St. Louis Cardinals relying on Jordan Walker’s SWING Overhaul to ELEVATE Team’s 2026 Potential

St. Louis Cardinals relying on Jordan Walker’s SWING Overhaul to ELEVATE Team’s 2026 Potential

games with secret weapons this off season. Could this be the spark St. Louis needs for 2026? We break down the details right now on 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 Hafern, a former national radio sports anchor born and raised in St. Louis, a lifetime Cardinals fan. Welcome in to Locked on Cardinals, part of the Lockon Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network. Thank you to our everydayers for continuing to be here for this journey. And for those of you who are brand new to the program, welcome in. We 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 Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use code lock on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Uh, today I will not be alone. I will not be alone. In fact, I’ve got our man Thomas Goane from redirdrants.com joining us uh from his uh humble abode uh in Kansas City where he works tirelessly and uh today he carved out some time to join us here today. Hey, how was your holiday Thomas? How much bird did you eat? It was great. I had a nice mix of ham and turkey. Went to my in-laws house down in southwest Missouri. We had some good food. Something about that rural cooking. It might be the butter that they use, I think. But it it’s just it tastes really good every time. Yeah, dude. Fantastic stuff. Uh yeah, I had a couple of heaping plates myself. Got to get back to the diet, though. Got to get back to the diet and uh back to the grind, if you will, as we start talking about the off season for the St. Louis Cardinals. Uh on today’s show, we’re going to talk all things Cardinals, possible Ali extension has been brought up. Uh we’ve got to talk about the starting rotation following the Sunny Grey trade, but we’re going to start with a couple of guys that are doing some things a little bit differently this off season to prepare for 2026. Specifically, Jordan Walker and Cardinals minor league pitcher of the year Bryson Mottz. because these are guys, specifically Walker, that we expect to be a huge part of what the Cardinal are going to be doing in 2026. And depending on how Walker does this year, whether or not he’s with this organization moving forward after the year, uh Bryson Watts obviously has a very bright future. People are excited about him after his big year uh at Springfield this year. He’s going to be making that step up likely to Memphis and beyond. We might see him in St. Louis at some point in 2026. It’s debatable on when that should happen, but uh let’s get some background as to, you know, cuz back in the the the back in the old days, Damus, you just show up for spring training and that’s when you got back in shape and that’s when uh you’d be ready for opening day. They would show up and they’d be all a little fat and overweight and then they would have to shed all that, get back in game shape and that’s what they would do. That’s not the deal anymore. Everybody’s working tirelessly throughout the off seasonason. They take a week or two off to get their mind and their body some rest and then they get right back to it. And for these younger guys, they’re finding different ways to go about working on their craft, whether it is the pitching side, whether it is their swing. And Jordan Walker and Bryson Monz are two of those guys that have been talked about recently that are doing some things a little differently this off season. Uh what can you tell us about each one of their situations? I know a little bit more about Bryson Matza’s situation. I spoke, he went to a place called Tread Athletics. It’s just offseason performance facility. They’ve got pitching, hitting help. They work with pros, college, minor league guys, whatever it is. Um I I actually spoke with Paul Hall who has been working with Bryson. He said he’s been working with them for about a year and a half now. And the idea there was just to get Bryson more ready for the season. He was trying to get his pitches a little bit sharper, get a little bit more velocity on some of his pitches as well. and it seemed to do a lot for him last year. He went from a 518 erra in 2024 to a sub3 erra last year. He’s continuing that work at Tread this this winter as well. And he’s he’s not taking any steps back, which is great news because the one thing that we’ve learned uh about, you know, Heim Bloom’s vision for this team and this organization moving forward is they they got to get better at developing starting pitching, just pitching in general. don’t even have to be starters really, but just developing getting their hands on as many possible arms as as they can and uh to have somebody on the inside already. You know, we’ve got some big names. You know, Liam Doyle obviously is a big name. I don’t know how many people were talking about Bryson Mutz before what he did this past season at Springfield. I don’t know if he was on anybody’s radar really. And uh here we are now. He’s your your reigning minor league pitcher of the year along with JJ Weatherhold as your minor league player of the year. And uh you know now we’re talking about him. Hey, is this somebody that I don’t know we might need to use him in 2026 as a starting pitcher if they don’t add any depth. Yeah, it’s possible. I I don’t know. It’s quite a drop. He is 20. He turned 24 in July, so he’s a little bit older as far as prospects go. It’s definitely possible. I think I’d like to see what he does in the first five months in Memphis. four or five months in Memphis. If he can continue this this strikeout trend, if he can continue that that li that run prevention, I think he could see his name being called by the end of the year, especially if we sign some like one-year Dustin May pitchers and we trade them off at the deadline because they’re doing well. I think he might be one of the first guys up at that point, too. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh we’re looking forward to it. But again, no pressure really this year. It’s not like, “Okay, dude, we kind of need you now.” No, that’s not really the the situation at all. Uh he he will definitely start at Memphis. There’s no reason why to keep him down at DoubleA for another year. So uh he’ll be up at Memphis, which Memphis might have a pretty nasty starting rotation if everybody’s healthy. Uh just thinking about some of the prospects and where they are lining up as far as their uh time frame of, you know, just kind of graduating to different levels. That could be a nasty team down in Memphis. Uh and hopefully that it all works out for them. On the other side, Jordan Walker, we know the story with Jordan. Top prospect, first round pick, all the talent in the world, came up, great start to his career, got sent back down to to work on some things. They wanted more uh lift uh you know, in in his swing. And uh you know, that that rookie year, the numbers look like, all right, this guy’s on the path to becoming something really really special for this team. And things have cratered ever since. that has just never come together for him. And Dererick Gold at stltoday.com kind of gave us a behind thescenes look at some of the things Jordan Walker has been working on in in this off season to uh prepare for what Hein Bloom has called. This is a big year for him because this will be this is this his fourth year that he’s actually going to be in the major leagues like that’s right, isn’t it? Uh yeah, this would be his fourth 23. He came up as rookie year. crazy. Like it seems like it’s only been like his second, but no, he’s been up. There’s just been, you know, the injuries last year, demotions, and then he had that rookie year. So, this is going to be his fourth year trying to do something in the big leagues. Like, the leash is getting shorter and shorter on Jordan. And as much as we all like him, and we want him to succeed eventually, you got to cut ties with people and move on in life if if it’s not working out. that Jordan Walker is uh doing something as well this off season that apparently is uh you know working pretty well for him. A video surfaced of him back in early October. He was working at Drive Line similar to Tread. It’s a facility they work with thousands of athletes throughout the year and he was in the batting cages getting some good hits in. Uh this was brought up by his agency according to Derek Gould. CA wanted him to get some work in so they did meal prep, nutr nutrition plans, cage work for him with uh the drive line as well and that Cresy Sports Performance. He’s back in Atlanta now, I believe, and he’s continuing those prep planes. But his off season started really early, pretty much two weeks after the Cardinals ended. He was in with Driveline getting some work in the cages trying to to the idea is getting his hip to stay where it needs to be longer. He was dropping his hip a little bit early in the swing and that caused him to to sacrifice some of the launch angle that he used so often. Yeah. And uh you know, one of the things that he he says in the article was about, you know, I’m trying to figure out the pitchers, which is hard enough as it is, but then I’m kind of fighting my own body to get to those pitches. And we’ve seen him flail away at pitches. Low away, blowing away sweeper. Everybody threw it there. And then they would bust him in and he he couldn’t get his hands and and his hips around in time because he’s looking away the whole time. And it just was a mess and it was just over and over and over. It was like he was in a horrible time loop of something and it just kept happening to him. And uh it’s been a rough go and I you know the faith in Jordan Walker has obviously waned with a lot of the fan base like they’re like dude he’s just not it. I’m not there to say that yet. Uh he’s still a very young man. what he 23. Is that where we’re at? Might be just 22. But, uh, 23, I think. Yeah. Yeah. And he’s just like he’s so young still. And how much of the blame goes on how the Cardinals handled him in the beginning of his career and how, you know, it was up and down and they didn’t know what what they wanted them to do here. And, you know, he’s learning the outfield, but hey, you know, figure it out at the major league level. Oh, and don’t worry about looking like an idiot out there because you’ve never done this before. like there was so much going in on this kid’s mind that uh you know I I don’t blame him for having his wires all crossed up a little bit. But uh you know now’s the time because if there’s one thing the Cardinals could really really use in that outfield is a right-handed bat with some pop. Uh and at this moment you know you got them talking about trading guys like Lars Nupar which I don’t know who would want him coming off double heel surgery. Like what who’s who wants that? Uh, and then and then of course Donovan, which you can, you know, put him into the outfield stuff if if you want to. We know he’s normally an infielder, but you could also put him in the outfield, but again, left-handed, left-handed. Victor Scott, left-handed. All right, we need somebody from the other side of the plate. And Jordan Walker is that guy right now. He’s the only guy right now. You know, there there isn’t any right-handers that are, you know, on the verge of coming up or anything that can help out. So, if they sign somebody to uh be on the bench from the right-handed side that could play the outfield, maybe that’s something that they could look into. But, uh, you know, they’re kind of baking on Jordan Walker being that guy. And, uh, if he has another bad year, man, I I I don’t see how the team can stick with him. No, I don’t either. I mean, you’ve got Josh Bays, but he’s just hit double A. He’s not ready for the majors. Give him I mean, he’s just now showing what he can do. Let him prove it in Memphis again and then talk. We need Jordan Walker to to be better than he has been hard of the order. He doesn’t even need to hit fourth. Like put him fifth, sixth, near the bottom. Let him ramp up a little bit, but just to get that power stroke that he that he was known for back. He’s got the exit velocity. I mean, he’s top 10 and top exit velocities of the year, but he just cannot get the ball in the air. He cannot hit spots. He cannot avoid those breaking balls out away. Yeah. And I I I always want them and it’s easier said than done is like you’re a huge man Jordan. Who are some other huge men in baseball that you can kind of pattern yourself after? There’s a guy in New York by the name of Aaron Judge who is the same size as far as like the height and everything. Uh what has he done? You know, it’s pretty good guy to kind of look at to see how does he avoid chasing those kind of pitches? How does he lay off those kind of pitches? How does he reach the inside part of the plate? you know, if he’s got a very open stance. Jordan had that open stance for a while, but he again, he wasn’t able to get his body properly where it needed to be to reach any of those outside pitches and drive them the other way the way that Aaron Judge does. And again, not everybody’s going to be Aaron Judge. He’s uh, you know, what a talent, right? But if you’re going to follow somebody’s footsteps and look at them that could compare sizewise, I feel like, you know, somebody like him is somebody you should look at. maybe even Jean Carlos Stanton who has altered his stance a lot over the years. You know, now he’s got that super closed stance that he uses, but it wasn’t always that way uh when he was down in Miami. So, I don’t know, just some thoughts. But, uh, you know, I’m I’m sure I’m not, you know, breaking the seal on any uh thing that they haven’t talked about before, but it just there are guys his size that have been able to do it in the past and uh hopefully Jordan can figure it out this year. All right, we’re going to talk about more pitching. Pitching very important in the sport. Cardinals dealt away their number one last week. We’ll get Thomas’ thoughts on that deal and dissect this very young rotation coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. NFL Sundays move fast, one big play, and suddenly everything just feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. Now you’re not just watching the game anymore. You’re actually reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. I was enjoying quite a few of those uh moments on Thanksgiving when my Green Bay Packers were taking down the Detroit Lions sweep. That was fun to watch. Live betting is best when the game starts to shift. It really is. A receiver gets hot, you know, like Dantavian Wix did for Green Bay. A defense tightens up or the momentum flips after a turnover and FanDuel lets you jump into the moment. Live spreads and money lines, they adjust instantly. You got player prop updates as the guys heat up. Things change and alter. You can bet next touchdown scores. You can do drive results. It’s it’s incredible how quick it all changes just like the game that you’re watching on TV. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. Thanks for making locked on Cardinals your first listen every day and thank you for making Locked on the number one sports podcast network. 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. Thomas Goane from redrants.com joining us here today. Uh Sunny Gray got traded last week. I don’t know if you got that memo, Thomas, that that came across, but uh Gray got moved first of what we assume will be multiple deals this off season. And in return, they were able to land right-hander Richard Fitz and left-handed prospect Brandon Clark. They also sent $20 million to help with Sunny’s salary to Boston uh as part of the deal. Uh haven’t had a chance to really talk to you about this deal yet. What were your thoughts when it all went down and you found out all the, you know, different details about it with the money and who came back? Uh did you like dislike the trade? What were your thoughts? I don’t love seeing us trade away our best pitcher. It’s a sign that that we’re not looking to fully contend this year. So, from a fan perspective, I don’t love that. But from a return perspective and a future outlook, I think it’s pretty impressive. I like that the ownership was willing to send $20 million over with him to get better prospects. I think Richard Fitz would be a very nice back-end starter for us for this year and the next few years after that. I like the Brandon Clark idea. I’ve seen a lot of talk about reliever potential, but if we can add a third pitch to his mix, I think the the new pitching development group that we have has already done wonders if they can continue that work with with Clark. I I have high expectations for him. I don’t love the fact that we’re not fully going in for the next few years. I love a team that can win 90 plus games and get a division title, but I get I get why they’re doing it and I’m happy with the return. Yeah. Uh, I talked about in yesterday’s episode, you know, when you put what they just received for Sunny and then you put together what they got in return at the trade deadline for Hell’s and Meton and Stephen Matz. Not a bad little hall for, you know, three guys that were on expiring contracts and, you know, a 36-y old veteran pitcher who, yeah, he’s been he’s been good, but it wasn’t quite to the level maybe that a lot of the fan base wanted. Uh, but also was going to make a crapload of money coming up here where you were going to pay him 35 million, probably 40 million because you were going to buy out that final year. You were probably not going to pay that and sign him again. So, um, that was $40 million. So, you slice that in half, you save $20 million, and now you can put that towards something else, another need, uh, perhaps signing one or two more pitchers for on one-year deals. You mentioned a guy like a Dustin May, but, you know, there’s a ton of other ones out there. So, I I I feel like the the last few deals, sure, there’s a lot of risk involved because these are all prospects and we don’t know if any of them are going to work out. That’s just part of the part of the gamble that you take when you trade guys away for prospects. But, uh, on the surface, you know, to be able to to get what you received, uh, two of the guys you got back are top 10 prospects in your system now according to MLB pipeline. Um, now you got five of them in your top 30. I feel like that’s pretty good job, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think Bloom did a good job on this. He had no previous connection with either of these people. I know he was with the Red Sox, but Fitz came over after he left and Clark was drafted after he left. But clearly our scouting department did some hard work on them. I think the talks with Aronado last winter opened up a little bit of these conversations or at least some familiarity we had. Sure. And that’s just good work on Heim Bloom. You get a top you get a high-end velocity left-handed pitcher and then you get a reliable back-end starter. You can’t really ask for much more from a a guy who’s being owed $40 million next year on an expiring contract in Gray and who’s about to be 36. And these aren’t like kid kids. These aren’t like 18year-old 19y old guys. You got Fitz who’s going to be, you know, part of the rotation right away, we assume. And and Clark’s 22, so it’s not like, you know, he he’s like five years away from being something that you can talk about at the major league level. like if they can get him ironed out, you know, two years would be a nice timeline to see him impact the major league roster. Um I wonder if if Boston people are tired of the Cardinals doing deals with them. Like why do we keep putting them all to him bloom again? What are we doing? Um let’s talk about this rotation real quick though. Um very young, very young. We mentioned Richard Fitz who just came over. Um you know before last year he was their 12th rated prospect. So, it’s not like this is some rando dude that that they got. You know, this is a guy that’s got legit talent. He’s got a lot of different pitches that uh you know, it’s it’s a you know, different shapes and looks the words that they like to use. So, uh I’m excited to see what he can do. Uh but you put fits with Matthew Liberator, Michael McGrevy, Kyle Lehey, and Andre Palante as your top five starters at this moment. I’m putting Palante in there. Uh I want to see him in the bullpen. So do you. But, uh, I’m not giving up on him. I’m not cutting him, releasing. That’s not going to happen. I I still think there’s plenty of arm talent there. They just got to fix him and figure him out a little bit. Um, but it’s a very, very young rotation. Uh, Ley transitioning to starter uh, for the first time in his major league career. What is your feelings towards like let’s just pretend that’s all they do. They just sit. They’re like, okay, here’s our five. How would you feel about that coming into the season? I don’t love it. I saw something on Twitter the other day where the Cardinals had the second lowest projections for starting pitcher war next year and the only team behind us were the Colorado Rockies who pitch in a launching pad. So from that perspective, I don’t love it. I think that it’s it’s going to be a big year for Liverour. I I really hope that he can step up. I he’s not a number one on any other rotation in the league, but I think he could be a very reliable left-handed starting pitcher with decent strikeout numbers, good amount of innings, all that stuff. McGrevy’s floor is solid. I like what we saw last year out of him. I think Kyle Ley could be interesting next year. He’s going to be the guy to keep an eye on. Richard Fitz fits well at the bottom. I don’t want Andre Palante. And I hope that that’s the spot that is replaced via trade. either Brendan Donovan or Nolan Gorman. Maybe we can get some sort of controllable starting pitcher or free agency with Dustin May, Tyler Mi, some someone to take that Andre Palante spot. Yeah, I feel like it would be shocking for them not to bring in some sort of veteran presence. Like I feel like that would just be weird to not have that. But at the same time, when we say veteran presence, when we’re talking about I mean Tyler Mi’s, you know, got a few years on him, but you know, if you bring in a Dustin May’s like 27, it’s not like he’s an old man or anything like that. But I that’s the kind of guy, you know, and we keep bringing up his name because he’s somebody who’s got an exciting arsenal and you know what’s really held him back is injuries. That’s really been the problem. But, uh, when he’s on, he can be super nasty. But, uh, it just feels like there’s got to be some sort of veteran presence that needs to be brought in just to help these guys along. Like these guys are all just kids uh, tackling this part pitching rotation together in St. Louis. And that’s uh, obviously there’s a lot of risk there because, you know, how many times did we see a guy like Libby or, you know, Palante or whatever only go three or four innings, you know, and that’s really going to put some strain on the bullpen. And uh as good as that bullpen has been and as much as we trust the Cardinals to do well with that moving forward, that’s not ideal. So, and and also I always want to bring this up too is that the Cardinals got very lucky with how healthy their rotation was last year. That was not normal that they were able to pull that off. So, expect people to go down and to have fatigue and there to be some issues. So, you have to have some depth there. You mentioned Bryson Mottz is somebody that you thought you know would be a possible call up at some point maybe in 2026. Who would you think would be like the next guy on the on the in the pecking order with the team now that that might slide up? So Palante say they move him to the bullpen and they bring somebody from TripleA. Who’s that next guy you think makes sense? Uh I would say it’s it’s Quinn Matthews. He has the year under his belt at Triple A. He’s probably the guy Tink Hence maybe depending on if he’s healthy, but I’m leaning more towards reliever with him. I think Ean Henderson needs a little bit more time in the miners, but he could be a guy to keep an eye on, but probably Quinn Matthews would be would be the sixth or seventh guy who Okay. All right. But again, very young and uh we I think we both agree that they could they could use somebody with uh some some years already in the major league kind of help these guys through the I’m not saying Kyle Gibson old like I’m not saying 37 38 year old people like that but uh somebody with a little a little longevity in the major league game already would be nice. Uh there was talk about a possible Ali Marmal extension over the week. Uh, so we’re going to jump into that. We’re going to get Thomas thoughts on that. Is that the right move? Smart to get ahead of it or dumb to to make a decision already? We’ll talk about it next on Lock on Cardinals. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994 with 48 teams for the first time ever. It’s going to be massive, you guys. But let’s be honest, getting tickets to something like that usually the hardest part, right? That’s why Game Time is here. It’s why their app is clutch. Finally giving fans a real advantage when it comes to snagging seats. With Game Time, you’re able to track price drops in real time. I get the alerts all the time on my favorite teams. They’re like, “All right, prices are dropping.” And it always makes me, “Okay, let’s let’s see what we got here.” You get alerts when great seats open up and buy tickets the moment they hit the app. It just puts the power back in your hands and makes going to the World Cup realistic instead of impossible. You pull up the app, the layout makes it very, very simple to scroll through matchups and compare the seat views. You get a look at where your seat is, so you can tell exactly what the angles are going to be. I let you pan around and move around and check it out. Uh prices includes the the fees up front, which I love. No last second surprises at checkout. And again, alerts for teams and matches. It makes it easy to grab the tickets the moment they drop instead of missing out on it. So take the guesswork out of buying World Cup tickets. in every match, concert, or event with Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account. Use code lock on MLOB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, download the app, make an account, use code locked on MLB for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Game time. Thanks for making Lock on Cardinal your first listen every day. For your second listen, find the Locked on MLB podcast where there is no offseason. solely keeps you up to date on the contract negotiations, the rumors, and everything you need to be the most informed MLB fan. You can find Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thomas Goane from redwood ranch.com joining us here. So, uh, Ali Marmal, there was a story from Derek Gold at stltoday.com that mentioned that, hey, they’ve had preliminary talks about possible extension for Ali Marmal past this year. contract finishes at the end of the season. Your thoughts on that? Because we already went down this road once where Mo did it because he didn’t want, you know, Ali feeling like a lame duck going into a season where they didn’t expect to be all that good. Uh, and they’re not expected to be all that good this year either. Sure, there could be surprises. Some young guys could escalate and be much better than we thought. Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman could finally pan out, but you see the writing on the wall. Sunny Gay is getting traded. Natto’s getting traded. Maybe Brennan Donovan. So, the the youth is really going to be in charge this year and more times than not that leads to more losses than w. Uh your thoughts on a possible Ali extension. Is this the right move or dumb to start talking about this already? It feels premature. Not because I don’t think Ali’s a qualified manager, but just because we need to see what he can do with this young core. I don’t think he’s been given a fair shake the last two years. I think that most fans would agree with that. He has been given a rotation that has been dominant since he came in. I know 2022 he had a really good team and he saw a lot of success there outside the playoffs. I’m I’m fine with his decision- making at this point, especially with the relievers. I think he he can defend what he does with sound logic. I I wouldn’t extend him right now, though. I’d see how the year goes. And it he’s not going to be judged in my mind by wins and losses. can be judged in the growth of the individual players. If we see Jordan Walker, if we see Nolan Mormon make those strides. If Lars Newar comes back and can go back to his 2023 self, I think that that’s noteworthy. I judge more the player growth rather than the win and loss record for an extension. Yes. And I feel like that’s kind of why, you know, Heim’s been here a couple years. We keep, you know, the you feel the feeling is like he just got here because we haven’t seen him. we haven’t talked to him very much and now we’re finally getting our hands on him and he’s the guy in charge, but he has been there behind the scenes for the last couple seasons. He’s gotten to know these guys uh down through the minor leagues and up through the major leagues. And there’s something about the idea that that’s even being brought up that tells you that they they kind of like what Ali does, you know, as far as his um relationships with players. Because the one thing I point out all the time is that even when things were so bad in 2023 that you never heard that Ali lost the clubhouse or that he was the problem or there was arguments between people. We had the one blow up that people still like to talk about with the Tyler O’Neal situation where we think everybody learned from that. You know, I you gota remember Ali was the youngest manager in baseball, right? Like he he’s gonna make some mistakes. every manager does and he’s going to learn from that. Uh, but a lot of of the fan base, um, you know, when I when I talked about this was, you know, there’s people are just like, “No, no, no. Please don’t do this. I’m not spending money until Ali is gone.” But I’m starting to see a shift a little bit and and I know that it’s a small sample size in the comments section and people who write to me, I get it. But I’m seeing a shift where it was pure anger like a year ago where they were like, “This guy sucks. We hate him. Get him out of town. He’s a loser.” to now people are starting to jump over a little bit and go, you know, I kind of get it. I kind of understand why you wouldn’t make that move right now. So, um, what do you think it is about Ali that is attracted to as far as keeping him around? Is there something about him that you think is different? It could be his player development background. He had when he was first announced as manager, that was kind of his calling card, his relationship with players and his ability to work with young guys. I might be interested in that. I think that Heim enjoys the working relationship the two have. I I have zero knowledge, so let’s not pretend like I’ve got inside stuff here, but I I think that we’re just we’re just thinking out loud together. I wouldn’t be surprised if the two have a good working relationship with each other. They both have similar temperaments, it seems from the outside. I think that that works well together. That as far as I can tell, that seems to be the most the most appealing part between him and Ali, though. Yeah. and and you you hit it the nail on the head there. Player development. What are we trying to do here, Cardinal fans? What what is the goal right now? What is the biggest focus about this team? Player development. And having a younger manager and not some, you know, guy who’s in his 60s or 70s that wants to do things his way and doesn’t really adjust to how the game is is probably not the answer. Now, people are going to yell, “Yachi, Albert, bring him in.” Whatever. And I brought this up yesterday. I’m like, why has nobody else hired them then? If they’re so great, if they’re so amazing and ready to go and should be a manager of a Major League Baseball team, how come nobody else has jumped on the bandwagon and gotten one of them into their clubhouse already? So, something to think about. Uh, but I think people are starting to understand that maybe there’s more to this and this this long-term vision that Heim has, he needs somebody that is cool with that ride. And if the if people who would want to interview for the job and are like, but we got to go do this this this to win now. And that’s not the vision at the moment. So they he needs somebody that’s going to sit shotgun with him and be able to uh be patient that way. I hate that word. Obviously, it’s a mo trigger, but it’s somebody that has to be able to do that and be able to relate to these younger guys and understand what it’s going to take to get everybody on the same page and to the same level at the same time to really get the Cardinals back to where we want them to be. So, uh I understand it. I’m with you. I agree. I’m like, let let’s give him the let him finish out his contract this year because who’s banging down the door looking for Ali Marmal and steal him away from the Cardinals? probably not a lot of people. So, uh why not why not let him finish it out? And you know, if he he kicks butt in the role this year and again, not by wins and losses, but just are we is it all starting to come together? Are we moving into the the proper direction together? If it all is working, then yeah, be like, “All right, here’s three more years. You’re our guy to to lead us with all of these guys. They all seem to love you, trust you. Everybody’s getting along. let’s let’s put it in pen and paper and get it together. Um, but if if things go sideways, you’re not stuck, right? Yeah. You know, you don’t you don’t have to you’re not handcuffed by like these no trade clauses that have been such a pain in the ass the last two years. Like no trade clause for a manager. That’d be funny. Three three years, 15 million and no trade clause. Why not? Yeah. You know, you’re not you’re not you’re not stuck. You’re not feel like you’re just you just have to ride it out with them. you know, you make a a real decision together at the end of the season. So, I agree. I think it’s a little premature. I would do it our way first and I feel like Ali would be on board for that. Be like, “Yeah, I would love to to do it that way as long as you don’t have somebody that’s already, you know, in the chamber ready to go to take his job, which felt like that was going to be the situation with with Yachti on board.” But, uh, because that’s that doesn’t appear to be what it’s the case is going to be this year. That’s not really a thing. Nobody’s threatening him for his job. We just want you to do a great job. So, we’ll see how it all pans out. All right, we’re going to wrap things up. Uh Thomas, thank you so much for joining us here today. Uh anything new that you’re coming up with at redwoods.com that you want the folks to know about? I’m finishing that story on Bryson Mott. So, I’m I’ve spoken with the guy from from Tread who worked with him one-on-one. I’ve got that story going up in the next few days. And then I wrote one about the greatest winter meetings moves the Cardinals have made in their history. That should go up next week once the meetings start. Yeah. Oo, I like that. I love going back and checking out the old stuff and just ripping everybody off. Oh, I do too. Yeah, it’s fun. Hopefully there’s some good ones. I did the good It’s I only did the good moves, the positive ones. I I stayed away from some bad ones. Were there a lot of bad ones during the winter meetings, too? I don’t I mean forget if you think J If you think JD Drew, like that’s in there. If you think the JD Drew trade, I don’t know why you would you get Adam Wayne, right? But like if you really like JD Drew, that might be something that sets you off a little bit. But aside from that, most of the moves have been pretty good. They they haven’t made too many moves. So finding them first of all was tough, but then also they they played it safe. I tell you one, I like his first name. He’s got a good first name. I actually JD Drew at a movie theater once and I knew something was up when he was there by himself, which is was weird to me at the time. Like we were at a group of people. We were all at a at the movie theater together uh off of Olive Road in in St. Louis and we bumped in and there he was and I was like, “Oh my gosh.” I’m like, “He’s all by himself. That’s weird. That’s weird to me.” It was like on a Friday night, too. It wasn’t like Tuesday night or something. I was like, “Oh man, we’re screwed. Nobody likes this dude. He’s all by himself. We’re in trouble.” And uh you see what happened, but he got you, Adam. So hard to argue about that. All right. Thanks for making Carlos 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 locked on Cardinals. Make sure you’re following Thomas at Thomas Goane on X as well and read on his work at redird ranch.com. Like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel, and love for the Cardinals Grill. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. We’ll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals.

Two of the St. Louis Cardinals’ brightest young players unveil game-changing offseason routines—could their secret weapons ignite a return to contention in 2026? With the rotation shaken by the Sonny Gray trade, a youth movement is officially underway. How will Walker’s revamped hitting approach and Mautz’s pitching breakthrough at Tread Athletics reshape the Cardinals’ future?

0:00 — Cardinals Young Stars Offseason Changes
4:26 — Brycen Mautz & Jordan Walker Development
13:12 — Rotation Trade, Prospects, Team Outlook

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-st-louis-cardinals/

Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/

Follow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIO
Follow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_Cardinals

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

#ForTheLou #stlcards #mlb #lockedoncardinals #stlouiscardinals