Gateway to Baseball Heaven: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

GTBH 3/10/24: VSII Be or Not To Be

Every week, two of the Best Fans in Baseball (TM) bring you all the news and analysis about the St. Louis Cardinals. This week's show is brought to you by Mercy Health because it's all about injured Cardinals and Daniel (@C70) and David (@iPopEditor) don't have medical degrees. Sonny Gray's hamstring was whole a week ago. Are we worried about what that means for the long term? When in the world will Tommy Edman come back and can Dylan Carlson pick up the slack? We'd make a Lars Nootbaar crack but his ribs beat us to it. With him out, the guys debate pro and con on the idea of Victor Scott II on the roster. It's a show Hawkeye Pierce and Joan Watson would approve of!

Duration:: 46m
Broadcast on:: 10 Mar 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Good evening and welcome into another edition Gateway to baseball heaven. I'm your host, Daniel Shop.at, C70, with me as always. David Jones, I pop editor. It is Sunday night. It is a day where the Cardinals were on TV, which is a beautiful thing to see when you can see it. And David, as far as we know, we talked about this as far as we know, nobody got hurt today. That's when you chalk up a win in your book. - The key phrase as far as we know, because tomorrow, who knows what we will find out? Who knows who will be missing a hamstring, a ligament, who's torn something, who's got more cracked ribs? You never know with this team right now, but as of right now, made it through 24 hours, making notch on that board for one day without injuries. We think we're okay for a little bit. - Yeah, this episode brought to you by Mercy Health. Mercy Health, the medical staff for the Cardinals. - What you're talking about, and we've got three major issues, health issues to talk about, because you and I were talking right as we started the show that we both could not believe that it has been just less than a week since Sunny Gray hurt his hamstring. That feels like it was two weeks ago, three weeks ago. Maybe when they signed him, I'm not really sure. And that overshadowed everything for like a day and a half and then we got more stuff. It sounds like it's not the end of the world for Sunny Gray, but I mean, what do you think? - Yeah, I, of course, when you hear something like this, especially this early, when it's your number one pitcher, it's gonna freak people out. And until you get some clarity, it's definitely gonna freak people out. And then when the Cardinals kind of came the next day and gave their, I guess when Mo gave the little press conference, it was one of those things where you're kind of like, okay, this could be a lot worse, but it does sound like it could be better. And then within a couple of days in Sunny Gray talking, it was kind of one of those things where you felt like, okay, this actually doesn't sound too bad as long as we're hearing accurate information. I'm not too concerned with this. By all accounts, it sounds like it's a grade one strain, which a strain is a tear. So that is a little bit concerning, but grade one typically is not that bad. I've had grade two before and I actually happened to me a grade two hamstring tear last July. I was feeling that thing like two months later. And for a pitcher, that would be a big deal. It sounds like Sunny Gray has a grade one. I feel like the biggest issue here is not actually the hamstring, it's going to be that he's not gonna be able to throw on his normal schedule. And that's what's gonna prevent him from opening day. I think opening day is still a possibility, just slim. I think the home opener is probably more likely, but I don't see this being something where he's gonna have to miss more than two starts. The only concern is that he has had this issue come up before. And once you have a hamstring tear of some type, you are very much more likely to have it happen again. So because he's already been prone to injury with this hamstring, there is a chance that this could reoccur. So you wanna make sure that it is fully healed. I'm just not overly concerned at this point, which I'll make this comment and this could be like a tangent for later. I'm actually more concerned about the other starting pitchers more than I am gray right now, but I'm not too concerned about gray. Are you ready to jump off the bridge at this point with him? Or do you feel like this is something they can kind of weather? - No, I think that it's, I mean, again, everything we've seen, even from the very first moments that this happened, it was not a serious thing. I mean, one, it wasn't an arm issue. That's, that was a beautiful thing. When he left the field, it's not an arm issue. You feel pretty good. It's not an oblique, which tends to linger like all summer long. So yeah, hamstring is not great, but it's probably like the best possible scenario for this whole thing and then again a grade one. I just think it, you know, it really threw into relief as most of us have talked about all winter long, what the gap is between sunny gray and the rest of the pitchers. As you said, we can talk about their, we can talk about their free training numbers and exits and things of that nature sometime later on. But, you know, we knew that if, if sunny gray went down for any length of time, that there was a good chance that 2024, it looks like 2023. And then for, so to have this happen, even before the season starts, you know, again, it felt like man, let's get some insurance, did something. I mean, we know that Snell and Montgomery aren't coming because that would put them over the luxury tax. It's just not going to happen. But, you know, there are people out there, and you mentioned the number in a message to me, you know, Michael Rinsen, check out Oresi, guys that are not going to break the bank, guys that are veterans, guys that have probably can move between the bullpen and the rotation that may be better, especially Oresi, than what we have right now. And, you know, to have that kind of insurance would not be the worst thing. But the Cardinals didn't want to go that way. And, you know, for better or for worse, we'll find out if they're right. - Yeah. And if you lose gray, whether it's this injury, which it doesn't look like it, or to something else during the season, you don't really, I think the rotation looks worse than it did last year, to an extent. There's no confidence in it, and chances of making the playoffs are pretty slim, almost slim to none at that point. And, you know, I'm a big believer in a lot of cases that you don't put a lot of stock in spring training numbers. I kind of talked about that last week a little bit, like I wasn't worried about the bats, the lack of home runs. But I do have a little bit of concern when it comes to starting pitchers, especially starting pitchers who are veteran starting pitchers, and pitchers who are struggling when you're already past the halfway point of spring. That's kind of where we are right now. Kyle Gibson has not looked good in his starts. Lance Lin, only one start. And I know the whole story there was Angel Hernandez in that craziness. But even before that, Lin did not look good. Matt looked good in his first outing, really struggled in his second outing. Now, maybe these guys were working on some things, but it just seems like they're getting hit really hard, which is what we saw last year. The strikeout stuff wasn't there. They were giving up a lot of hits, a lot of hard contact. And so, yeah, if you're relying on these guys, it's gonna be a rough season if you don't have sunny gray there. You wonder, could some insurance help? Now, I don't know how that's all gonna play out if everybody's healthy. You really don't have a spot for people. But what I think is going to be the issue is, like you mentioned, Cardinals cannot afford snow right now. They cannot afford Montgomery. But we might look back and say, yeah, but what if you had taken that money that you gave to Lancelin or you took that money that you gave to Kyle Gibson and you only needed to add eight to $10 million to it to get a guy who was actually a number two or number three for the rotation? And I think that is where we may be at the end of the season. We might be looking at this and going, if they had only spent a little bit more money, eight to $10 million more, they could have had a guy who would have put this rotation over the top and made them a playoff contender. Right now, I'm not even sure if they're at that point. I've kind of soured on the team. I think Lorenzo could help this rotation. I don't know what to think about him. He was great with the Tigers and then pretty terrible once he got traded after the no hitter. But I just don't have much faith in this rotation right now. I've kind of soured on it because it feels like this rotation is a very low ceiling type of rotation. And I'm just not confident. And I think that's fair. I do, you know, again, I think it's also very easy to get, to have your mood shifted by what does happen on the field, even if you don't want to necessarily take it as, hey, this is what's going to happen. When they're going out and throwing bad games, it's just kind of kind of reinforced some of those concerns that we already had. You know, we've gone into the season saying, if Lancelyn is more like he was a couple of years ago, if Kyle Gibson can be that, you know, that solid guy. And then you see them giving up three runs in the first inning on a regular basis. And you're like, you know, we really don't want them eating innings if they're going to, you know, eat them at this rate, right? I mean, if they're going to give up three runs every two or three innings, then that's hard. And we know from last year how tough it was for this team to play behind all the time, right? I mean, there was, there was probably a stretch of like three weeks where they were behind in every game before they, you know, and they didn't win a lot of those games. It was tough. The bullpen can only do so much, especially when you're down like that. And, you know, this offense is good. We saw put up 12 runs today, but you don't necessarily want them having to try to, you know, try to dig out of the hole so often. So yeah, I think there's concerns. I don't, I don't know, you know, again, spring, all that kind of stuff. And maybe it'll get better as it goes along. But I don't know, I don't want to, I'm still thinking the Cardinals are maybe a little bit better than you think they are. But you're right, it's still not a situation where this team wins 90 games. It's very, very hard to imagine that. Even best case scenario doesn't really see that happening. - Okay, you just used a word and a phrase there that were in my mind. For one, you said if, and then you said best case scenario. And that's what's been replaying in my mind because this is what we heard last year. It was if Jack Flaherty gets back to the Jack Flaherty of 2019, if Stephen Matts is the pitcher that they traded for and is healthy. If Adam Wainwright returns to his form from whenever, if Miles Michaelis is healthy and pitches like blah, blah, blah. Everything last year had to basically work out to best case scenario for them to have a chance. And it didn't. Almost all of those guys fell below expectations. I feel like that's where we are again. It's if, which I think Sonny Gray is, you're pretty solid there. I don't think that's going to be an if type thing. And he could say if he's going to be healthy, but I think you know who you're getting. But if Miles Michaelis bounces back, is there a given for that? Absolutely not. If Lance Lin is more like 2022 or I guess 2023 and not, no, yeah, 2022 not 2023, is there any guarantee of that? Absolutely not. I mean, that's a full year way. He's a year older. If Kyle Gibson can be not 37 years old, if Stephen Matts is healthy, that's where we are, when you start playing that best case scenario again, what are the chances of this stuff happening? It's very, very unlikely. Because like I said, these guys I feel have such a low ceiling outside of Sonny Gray, I would actually feel a little more confident with somebody like Zach Thompson to have a potentially have a better season than these guys. I think it's probably lower floor, lower floor higher ceiling there. But I'm just struggling, especially when I look around that I'm looking at the Cubs rotation and saying, they've got steel. Imanaga, it sounds like all reports have been pretty good on him. I mean, that's a one, two punch right there. The Cardinals may struggle with. I'm looking at Cincinnati. And of course, there's some if-then with them too. Montas was named their opening day starter. The guy could go out there and be dominant, or he could go out there and he could have a five ERA, Hunter Green, tons of talent. Don't know how he's going to use it. But I like Cincinnati's rotation. And Brewers, you're still, they're not looking as good, but you still got to deal with Peralta. I think they're going to struggle, but hey, they could still beat you in a series. I'm just, I am struggling at this point, looking at this rotation. Somebody made the comment the other day. They said, I can't believe that these are our only choices because of how old everybody, how old the candidates are. And I wasn't sure if they were talking about the presidential race or talking about the Cardinals' rotation. I think that is where I'm stuck right now. Cause I just, I feel like you almost know what you're going to get. It's going to be mediocrity at this point with the rotation. And it's, it really has caused me to sour on my overall prospects for the team. I like that lineup. I like the bullpen. I'm just not sold on the starting rotation. And I feel like this team may be headed to 500. Are you saying you need, we need to make St. Louis great again? Is that, is that what we're going to do? I'm saying we, I'm trying to think what the equivalent would be. I was going to say, do we need a third party? Okay. And number three, we need a number three. We need a second party, a third party, a four. We got plenty of fourth fours right now. We got a lot of them. Yeah, it's, yeah, it's, it's something for sure. And it's again, so many times we've gone into spring, out of spring, worried about something or very excited about something, only to see it completely turn around when the bell, the lights and, you know, the season gets started. So hopefully, again, there is a, if there's a, hopefully there's the best case scenario type of thing, but hopefully, you know, if, if nothing else, at worst, hopefully the Cardinals are willing to not dig themselves a hole, right? If the end of April, if Lancelin or Kyle Gibson has a six ERA, you hope that they're willing to make a move, right? That this isn't Adam Waynot who gets to pitch whenever he wants to. These are two guys that have come in on a one year contract, basically. And if they're not getting it done, you figure out some way to get, you know, moving to the bullpen, you know, fake, fake an injury, whatever the case may be. But you've got to do something and not let them be out there every five days. And, you know, and if they aren't, you know, if they're doing well, then great. But I do think that this, you know, we've talked about aggression out of this front office in the, in the winter and didn't really see it. I mean, they got out and got the three guys early, but, you know, that was really kind of it and we can argue the, the Lenin Gibson signings, what that was like, why they did that, but we have to see some sort of progression out of the front office. You know, early on, and I'm not saying that's a fire, all a type of situation. I'm just saying they have to make sure that if somebody's not pulling their weight, they don't give them so much rope that they hang everybody else. Yeah, I agree with you. Um, and, you know, we may see games like today, today, games like today may be needed for the Cardinals to be successful, like a 12 to nine game. The bullpen is looking good, uh, Kittredge, Riley O'Brien, Helsley, um, the guys that we believe are going to be in the bullpen are looking great right now. And so if the Cardinals can get to the seventh inning with a three run lead, even if that three run lead is nine to six, I feel pretty good about that. Um, but that's going to require the offense to come through and the pitchers to be decent. Um, and I just, I don't know if we're going to get that. But what I worry about is we're going to see what we did last year where the pitchers give up two or three runs in the first inning and it kind of just deflates the offense from there, because it really is tough to bounce back from that when you haven't even batted yet and you're already down a couple runs. Um, now if these guys can go five or six innings and give up three to four runs, I feel like the Cardinals have a good chance to win any of those games. But I'm just concerned right now that we're going to see much of the same from last year where it's guy goes four or five innings, maybe, maybe gives up five to six runs and, you know, the Cardinals are down five, nothing in the third inning. And you're thinking, okay, I can turn this one off. Well, the good thing is that this offense is completely 100% ready to go. Um, there's no, no problems whatsoever there, right? I mean, it's not like anybody's missing. Um, no, of course that's not the case, um, because this week as we have continued to kind of wait to hear about Sunny Gray's hamstring, there was a day this week that the Cardinals had a press conference, not a press conference, Mo got out there and let the media talk to him, um, about injuries and Sunny Gray's name wasn't even mentioned. I don't think that was what that's how this week has gone. Tommy Edmond, let's start with there. Cause this, this risk issue, we, we've, we've known it's going to be an issue for a while, but more and more, this is sounding like a, this is sounding almost like if Tommy Edmond is backed by the All-Star break counted a victory, because this thing has lingered on and he's continued to have to take rest and nobody seems to have a real good idea of what the next steps are. Yeah, I think this is making the Brandon Crawford signing make a whole lot more sense because I'm getting to the point now where I think I'd be very surprised if Tommy Edmond's not put on the 60 day that IL to begin the season. Maybe not, but it doesn't sound like he's playing any time in the first calendar month of the season. I don't know if this is, and there have been different things out there saying like they kind of got a second and third opinion and things just aren't progressing, but now they know a path forward, which is great, but you wonder how long the Cardinals have been aware that this is just not headed in a good direction right now. You know, they've talked about being optimistic that he'd be ready for opening day, but you wonder have they known for maybe a month or so that it's probably not happening. And so that's why they were looking. I don't know. Part of me thinks that if they were aware of this earlier, they may have tried to sign somebody with a little more, I don't know, with a better bat to possibly fill in, but he, he doesn't appear ready anytime soon. We've talked before, I think, on and off air that of all your starters, Edmund is probably the most expendable because he's not a power guy. He's not even always a high average guy. And you have Dylan Carlson, who's basically just going to fill in behind him, who has been a starter before and plays great defense and could still impress with the bat. So I'm not worried about Edmund's injury too much. What worries me is just now there is a lack of depth in the outfield because of that injury. Yeah, I, I have never been fully on the Tommy Edmund bandwagon. I think most people that have listened to me here and there probably are aware that I'm not, I'm not necessarily as down on him as like Ben Humphrey, since over at Cardinal's Offday. But, you know, he's always been a nice piece to the puzzle. But the Cardinals tend to wind up having him play a beer role than I think he probably should. And that really kind of was indicated when they moved into center field, when they have all these other outfielders, which they don't have anymore. Um, so I'm really hoping that Dylan Carlson can take this opportunity and do something with it. Um, and if that's the case, then maybe Tommy Edwin, when he does come back, becomes that guy that can play outfield or we'll play short or we'll play second or we'll play whatever and actually not worry about if he's, you know, don't worry about him being a starter, that you can move him around. Um, but he's always got to come back and this risk injury, which is, you know, risks are always a dangerous thing for hitters, for sure. Um, even one that has not necessarily been league average. Um, and I don't know, I just, I'm very interested to see what this all develops because this does feel like one of those things that, you know, because it was mentioned at winter warm up and oh, he'll be fine for opening it for a, you know, for spring training and definitely for opening day. And now here we are, you know, less than three weeks away and he still has barely picked up a bat and has not been a lot of pitcher at all. So, you know, I don't know, I'm very interested to see how that works out. I do think it's, it has a chance to be for the benefit of the Cardinals. If Dylan Carlson can take over this and play like we think he can play. The Cardinals are probably better than they would have been if Tommy was there, but we have to wait and see if Dylan Carlson can do that. And that's definitely a question. And, you know, he's only 25 years old. I think people still forget about that. I can't remember who's somebody said it either on Twitter or on radio or maybe or something like that, but they said that Dylan Carlson is the age right now that Randy or Rosa Raina was when the Cardinals traded him away. Just that is how young he still is. Dylan Carlson is only two years older than Victor Scott the second. So this is a guy that really got thrown into the mix very early on, right out of high school, essentially, and then came up during the whole COVID season when everything was a mess. But at the same time, at some point, you have to produce. He's been in the majors long enough that he actually has to show that he can produce. You know, there's been that unevenness between where he's batting left or right side. You'd really like to see that getting straight and out a little bit. The good thing with him is you're always going to get good defense. No matter if he's playing centerfield or corner position, but he needs to hit. He's got the opportunity right in front of him. He needs to go out there and do it. He's not hitting well in spring, but it's one of those things. You look at the numbers, he's batting 150. I've watched a few of his at bats. He's gotten robbed a couple of times. Line drives that were right at people. Deep flyballs that got caught that might go out in other places. But then there's other than other times where he has struck out on just pitches where he just completely fooled and looked overmatched where it looked like maybe he was guessing and just completely guessed wrong. And it just was ugly and you could see the frustration in his face. So he's going to get the chance, I think. But because of another injury, it could switch up things a little bit more. Yeah, because that's that is the other big news of the week is the fact that large new bar, which I guess probably was on Sunday, I think, or something. I don't know if we ever heard when he did this. It sounds like I thought he'd done it diving for a ball in a game. Then I saw something about maybe he just fell. I don't know exactly. But whatever the case may be landed on his ribs, cracked two of them. And, you know, best case scenario is he's out until mid April. And that is probably, I mean, the Cardinals haven't ruled out opening day, but I'm not sure the Cardinals have ruled out of being day for Aussie Smith yet. So I feel like his mid April, at best, could be May. Again, the Cardinals have this tendency. I think that may be a message you this week about it. But the Cardinals have this tendency to stockpile and stockpile and stockpile. And then the moment they decide to clear out that stockpile, they actually need it. You know, I mean, Richard Filosios would look really nice over here right now. And hopefully Andrew Khidrich won't make us not even think about that trade. But, you know, to have him, Tyler Neil got hurt in Boston. So I don't think that makes a whole lot of, you know, wouldn't have been any different here, probably. But, you know, there's just you're getting down into this idea. Now we're looking at, you know, either Michael Siani or Victor Scott the second. And we could talk a little bit about what that situation looks like now. But, you know, losing Newt is just a hard, hard thing early on, right? I mean, that's just not that he's the key to this offense, but he was a really, kind of really valuable complimentary piece. Yeah, he's a guy that hit right-handed pitching pretty well. And so you really want him in that lineup, played good defense as well. It seems like a kind of a freak injury. They say it happened last Saturday during a fall. It was kind of self-inflicted, his own elbow hitting his own ribs, which is hard to do, but somehow he pulled that one off. You just hate hearing that. And we've talked about this off air, but you kind of start wondering, is the injury prone title going to get thrown around with him? Because it seems like there are some random freak injuries that happen. Some are typical injuries, some are nuts, you just never know. But you just wonder what's going on there. Now, I will say his injury is so different from sunny grays because with grays, it's one of those things that you're never quite sure if it's fully healed and it can recur again. But it should heal quickly with newts. You're looking at an injury that could take some time to heal. But once it heals, it's fine. Well, you're not going to really have to worry about that again, unless you do the same thing, don't elbow yourself. But we don't know how long that could take. Guys heal faster than other guys from this. And so is he ready for opening day? Maybe I kind of doubt it, especially if he's having trouble breathing right now. But he's another guy that it could be home opener, maybe a little bit after that. He's there, but it creates a very interesting outfield dynamic. I'm kind of curious who you think today would be their three typical starters because I had three in mind and I've seen people go the other way with it. Well, I think that, I mean, obviously Jordan Walker is out there. I think Dylan Carlson's in center, maybe. Carlson might be in left and Siane may be in center, honestly. I don't know. That's my guess. But then you look at today where Victor Scott let off played pretty much the entire game, I think, and Siane just came in late in the game, maybe because they know what they've got in him and they don't feel like they have to adjust as much, but and then you've got yeah, then you've got Burleson in there. And I just have trouble imagining Jordan Walker and how the Burleson in the same outfield, especially with a pitching staff that already has problems with pitch to contact or striking people out that are going to pitch to contact. I just don't see those two guys out there at the same time as much as both of them have apparently made strides, they're still not average fielders. So that's my thinking. I think it would be probably the some sort of mix of Walker, Carlson and Siane. But, you know, who knows, it could change in two or three days. Yeah, see, I was kind of going a different way. And then I've heard people go a different way. I was kind of thinking that perhaps you go ahead, let's bring up Victor Scott, let him play center field, put Dylan Carlson in a corner position because he can play that as well. And you've got two strong outfielders right there. And then you put Jordan Walker out there as well, which today had a rough play out in the outfield. He's still learning, but at least you got two guys that are really, really good out there defensively and then Walker kind of coming along. There's some issues with the bats when you do that. And I understand and then also pitching matchups and things like that. But that's kind of what I was thinking. I've seen some other people suggest that you put Victor Scott out in center. And then you also play Walker and Burleson. That to me goes to exactly what you were talking about, even though Victor Scott may be able to cover a lot of ground, you're putting a lot of inexperience and not the most athleticism out there. If you've got Burleson and I think you could have a lot of trouble with that. Yeah, that just, that doesn't sound good to me. I mean, Burles is going to be on this team. I think he's going to engage some. He probably will play some outfield at some point in time. I just don't think it's the same day that Jordan Walker is playing out there. I just, I just don't think you can do that. If you've got, you know, a healthy Jacob DeGrom and Max Scherzer in your rotation, then yeah, sure, maybe you could do that. But I don't think you do that with Lance Lind, who's hopefully going to keep those balls in the ballpark this year, but they still may be in the air. Um, and you want them caught. I, I don't know. I, the Victor Scott thing is just so fascinating. And, and I don't rule anything out because the Cardinals proved with Jordan Hicks that anything can happen, right? I mean, a guy that had wasn't, was barely on the radar. All of a sudden makes the jump to St. Louis and did well, obviously. And that's why he's not here now because he's a free agent because it's been six years. Um, but I, if they think that large group bar is going to be back in a month, I just don't see them or if Tommy Edmond is going to be out there in a month. I just don't see them pulling the trigger on Victor Scott and going. I mean, the guy needs, he still needs some experience. I think at triple life, but even if he's ready for the major leagues, I just don't see them adding him to the 40 man, just to let him play for months and then go back to Memphis. Anyway, I, I just don't think that's the way they want to do it. Once they add him to the 40 man, I think they want him in the right, your leagues for an extended period of time. Now, if neither one of those guys is going to be back till they all start break, then maybe you're talking about it. But then like you said, not only there, there are some issues, right? I mean, if Victor Scott, we have to know, we don't know what his bats going to be like. We know he can run, we know he can hit at some point. Now, but how long is he going to take him and hit major league coaching? And if you've got him at the top of the lineup and Mason when at the bottom of the lineup, who again, will hit, but will he hit immediately? You know, you could have, you know, an inning roll over and all of a sudden you've got two outs really, really quickly and you're kind of digging a whole, you know, the first gold medal or whoever's hit in second. So I think there's a lot of, I think there's a lot of excitement about Victor Scott and I get it and I would love to see him on this team. I just don't think the corners are going to go that way unless he hits like 350 the rest of the way. You know, I'm typically, I've said this many times, I'm a risk averse guy and I'm pretty slow to bring up the rookies and the young guys like that. But after thinking about this, I think I'm all in. I'm bringing Scott up. I know there's some issues there with some roster management and things like that. But unless Newt is only going to be out for maybe like two or three games, if he's actually going to be out, maybe a month, I say you bring up Scott and you let him play. Maybe he's playing four games a week or something like that, but let the guy play. I don't know if the bat's ready. It probably isn't and he probably needs some time in triple A, but, you know, there's part of me that doesn't care if they say, hey, every time you go up there, hit it on the ground or bun. That's all we just do it because you're going to get on base and somehow. I mean, he's a guy that you almost don't mind if he hits into a fielder's choice if he's the one that gets on first base because he may be second and third, like rookie Henderson within two pitches. So I'm typically not that guy. I would say let's find a different way to do it. But the alternative right now might be Siani. And I think I would rather see Victor Scott up there playing. Maybe pull a Vince Coleman where you tell him you're up for 20 days and he's out there to prove you're wrong. I don't know. But I do worry about the bat, especially if you've got Scott Carlson, win all in there together. You don't know what you're going to get. You may even have Herrera some days, but you know what? I think you have your best chance of winning if he's in the lineup over somebody like Siani at this point. And I think the way this season is going to start, you need all the wins. You can get to start off the season. So if you can utilize his speed, find ways to get him on base. However, you can, even if it's as a pinch runner late in a close game and let him take off, you do it. And if he's only up for a couple of weeks, you got to send him back down. So be it, but I'm right now worried about the Cardinals coming off the road trip at the beginning of the season and being so far down that it's going to be tough to get out of that hole. So I say you play your best guys, whoever you got. And if that's Victor Scott, let him go. I like that they're putting him in games right now and letting him bat at the top of the lineup, keep doing that, see if he can prove himself, see if it looks like he can hit big league beach pitching. And if so, let him play. I mean, I get all that and I'm not not necessarily disagreeing with that. But like you said, he comes up and does events. Holman make them make, you know, make them send him down. Except that, you know, when Tommy Edmond and large new bar come back, he's going to get set down, right? I mean, even if he's in 350, how do you not? You know, those guys are not going anywhere, right? I mean, they're going to, he's either going to sit the bench and not play or, I mean, just from roster standpoint and option issues, he's going to go back down. And I, if nothing else, the Cardinals open, open another can of worms there too, which, like you said, maybe you worry about that down the road and you deal with the fallout later. Um, I just, I just don't see them going that way. I just think that. I'm, I'm very interested, it is interesting that they have left that door open. Um, and a lot of times when they have left that door open, players have walked through it. I mean, we talked, we have the same conversation last year, right? With Jordan Walker, he's having a great spring, there's no way they're going to take you in north because of 40 man roster and there's no place to play him. And blah, blah, blah, blah. And then they took him north and then they sent him down. Um, so I, I hate to get to, you know, oh, this is what's going to happen. Cause it's obviously I have no clue, but I just, I would just be really, really surprised if they risked his development by sitting up there. Now again, maybe he, maybe he has another, you know, whatever the left 15 games that are left in spring or whatever the case may be, and he doesn't give him a choice. We will see. Um, I just, I would be very surprised at that. Yeah. I would be surprised to, if they do it, I don't think they will, but I'm very interested to see if they do. And, you know, if he is, does do what you said and he's hitting 350 and playing great defense, you can find spots for Tommy Edmond. Tommy Edmond can become your super utility guy and play all over the diamond if he needs to, but if Scott's hitting the ball and playing defense with that speed, yeah, you can absolutely find places to store Tommy Edmond and other places and find ways to make the roster work. Um, now Scott's not hitting. Yeah, then you, you probably have to send him down. I know one of the big things with young guys like this is you don't want to bring them up and cause them to get so exposed that it stunts their development. And we've seen that happen with like pitchers like Jordan Hicks, where it feels like the Cardinals rushed him too quick. We've seen them do it with some batters too as well, where it felt like they rushed them up because they had to and it kind of was a setback for them. Um, so I definitely don't want that, but he just seems like the kind of person and the kind of talent who will love and relish being in the spotlight. Um, I know there's issues there with options and the 40 man and stuff like that. But if, if it's going to be a while before you're getting Edmond or new back, let the guy play that, that's where I'm at right now. I don't think it happens though. Yeah, cause I mean, not only that, yeah, you can find a place for Tommy Edmond to play, but you only get 13 guys on a roster, right? I mean, 13 hitters, 13 pitchers and, you know, who's going, I mean, are you, are they, you know, they're, they're not obviously not going to cut Brendan Crawford and Brendan Crawford and Mike Carpenter because their leadership is way too valuable. Um, and, you know, if on her errors, you're back. I mean, you're, you start running out of options of how to make the roster work pretty quickly. Um, you know, a guy like Siani comes up and if it's a month and he goes back down, no big deal and again, you're right. It does matter if, if, if Tommy Edmond and Laura Stikmar both aren't going to be gone out for a lengthy period of time, or at least I think so. I think that gives a better much better chance, but, um, as much as I would like to see that, and I, I think you're, I think you're right. I think he's going to a guy that could really enjoy it. And we've talked about the, the personality of that, a team with him and when Walker could have, um, even, yeah, even with all that leadership. Um, so I think that it could be, it could be a lot of fun and we'll, we'll see, but I, I mean, if I'm putting odds, I'm thinking 80, 20 against if, if not higher, just because this organization, this organization is not impulsive. Unfortunately at times, right? I think we would have liked them a little bit more impulsive this winter and things like that, but, you know, I think that they look at all of these things. And, you know, sometimes I judge that it's worth it, like with Jordan Walker last year. Um, I would be very surprised if they just did worth it here, but they might. You're right. They don't want to get into a big hole in that road trip to start the year is tough. Um, it's tough to go to the West coast anytime, but especially when the Dodgers have just bought every single player on the planet. Um, and so you have to go play that all star team. Um, and then you get the Padres with Mike Schulte who's probably going to be a little bit motivated to face the Cardinals. I'm not sure. Um, so yeah, I, I don't know. I think it's, it is definitely. It is a position battle that we did not expect when we got into spring. We were talked about the last couple of spots of the bullpen and that would probably be the only thing that we would have to worry about because everything else was locked up, the baseball finds a way. Yep. You're making an assumption about the roster though, and you're making the assumption that guys aren't going to hurt their backs doing deadlifts again, putting them on the IL and opening up spots. Um, because apparently we lift with the back with this team as we learned last year, um, but yeah, you know, if the perfect world, everybody's healthy, it does create an issue because yeah, really, there's only one bench spot available, which is weird, especially now with a 26 man roster and you've only got one bench spot available essentially. So it does put them in a bind, um, but you just, I just be surprised if everybody stays healthy that long. Um, now maybe they do. Uh, it's, it's completely possible, but, uh, unlikely. And when you've got guys on your roster who are 37, 38 years old, um, they may go down with a bad back every once in a while. Well, it depends on, um, you know, how what they're sitting technique on the bench is, um, don't slouch. Yeah. Um, we hope that they're not actually in a position where they're going to hurt themselves on the field very often, but who knows? I mean, Matt Carpenter doubled today. He's got a home run. He's got like two hits this spring and they're both for extra bases. So, um, that's more than we thought we would get out of Matt Carpenter all year long. So there's something I guess looking for some sort of silver lining to get out of this thing. Other than leadership. Yeah. Well, I mean, they're going to, they've so far led them straight to the injured list. Um, so maybe, maybe we've got a little top heavy in the, and the leadership point of view. I don't know. Um, all right. Well, that, is there anything as we front a little bit long because that's what happens when everybody gets hurt? Um, is there anything from this week that doesn't relate to injuries that you want to talk about before we wrap it up? Well, I was really happy that Tar Heels beat Duke last night, but that's probably not what you're actually talking about. Oh, okay. Um, college basketball really didn't exist this year. Um, so, uh, well, shout out to Thomas and JC, uh, going for four for four today with six RBIs, which he's had a great week, not just one game, but a great week. Um, that trade just keeps looking better and better. So it's, it's fun to see him out there. Um, I like when I see his name in the lineup. Jordan Walker seems to be driving the ball a little bit better right now. Little start or slow start to spring, but I like what he's doing right now. And then the bullpen, I mentioned them earlier, but, uh, you know, I, I've seen all over Twitter tonight that Palacio's hit a home run that was, I guess, crushed and, you know, people going crazy over that. That's great for him. Uh, Kitch Ridge, I believe his ERA is still zero right now in spring and he's looked really, really good. And so I'm pretty excited about the bullpen. Um, it's not going to be a bullpen where, you know, they come in. You're like, Oh, I can turn this one off. Games over Cardinals win, but it's also not going to be opposite where you're going to be thinking, okay, they're going to blow this one. Let's see how they lose it. At least I don't think so. So yeah, uh, those are a couple of things from the weekend, or at least the week that has been that I'm kind of encouraged about. So not all doom and gloom. There is some positive stuff out there. Um, anything that I'm missing that stood out to you, you know, hard to say. Um, you know, I, I think it's very, really great to see that Angel Hernandez is in mid season. I mean, you just don't see a guy come into spring training and be ready to go like Angel Hernandez is. I mean, it's just, it's incredible, um, to, to be ready to toss somebody, not only to toss somebody out of a game, but to toss somebody out of the bullpen after they've left the game. I mean, where are you going to see that? Except for when Angel Hernandez is on his game. That's, that's just incredible. Um, other than that, I mean, everything's kind of, you know, down. I do think that, you know, watching today's game in its only game, I really have to see this way. Of course, most games weren't televised this week anyway, but, um, you know, Alec Brosnan looked pretty good, uh, hitting, uh, today. And he's hitting 375 for the spring. Um, you know, not a lot of power, but guess what? Nobody else has any power either. When they did hit home runs this week, you were right. They hit their first home run on Tuesday, not the three that you projected, but they did hit one. Um, also, um, where are Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery? Just, just checking. I believe they're, um, eating dinner somewhere, um, not with a team. Uh, I am still, I am baffled by that one. Uh, but I think Ken Rosenthal is too. So at least I'm in good company. Me and Tiny can are both confused about it. Uh, I saw that Snell placed in something on his, uh, Instagram or something, like, uh, like googly eyes or something, um, making people think that something was going to happen. I maybe it's just, and there's been some talks that he, I guess he's made comments about being interested in pitching for the angels, perhaps. Um, and they would have the money to do it. I just don't know if they will. I, I believe, and this is, this is me just throwing this out there. It's not like I have a source or anything, but I think Montgomery and the Red Sox, I think that's going to happen. I think they just may be bidding against themselves right now. Um, but I think that's inevitable and we'll see it happen. Um, you've seen how well my predictions have gone so far, but I, I'll say it again. If, if, if both guys aren't signed by the time we record next week, I will be completely shocked out of my mind because they're not going to be ready for open day. Um, they will, sunny gray will be ready before they are. So we'll see what happens with that. Um, but I, I think they have to sign by this time next week. Um, but I enjoy being wrong as people know well. Well, we will find out when we come together again next week. So until then, for David, I'm Daniel. Good night. Lord, it's all with a new baseball stands on, looks in, has his side, the pitch for Mark Ellis, I too. Here's the two, two, three, and a foul. I'll stay alive. And a good ripping. That's 99. So he's getting closer. And another new baseball to the mound. No one on, two outs. Two, two, three. The Lord's in for either. Swain in a minute. Looking out at your car, real though. National League champions for 20-13. They keep their goggles and they are going to the World Series. They're 19. 19. National League first. They're celebrating on the field. Day of time.