UnLuken the Baker!

hello everybody and welcome back to talking about birds the only Cardinal podcast with less respect than Luke and Baker my name is Nate heininger and I am joined as always by my co-host Ben Samara hey Nate [Music] if you have an idea for the opening bit text or leave us a voicemail at [Laughter] you might be surprised to hear that this is a holiday that I enjoy uh the weather is scaring cats and dogs and uh veterin with loud explosions and things like that now I actually do have a big problem with that I of course because um uh I don't know we're broken as a as a species people just shoot off and I'm sure this happens everywhere but definitely in my neighborhood people just have been shooting off fireworks for the past like two weeks and you know we're lying around it at night watching the bear catching up on the bear the bear and Jeffy so we have one cat uh who's idiot and doesn't realize that anything is happening outside of her own brain and then we have Jeffy who is a ball of anxiety and every time there's a pop he looks at us as though the roof is about to cave in on him and it does break my heart and um yeah veterans and dogs too you know yeah like it's it's obnoxious yeah that is like the firework the lack of firework respect that we have today is like the most crogen yelling at the clouds thing I it like drives me like thingo boom and you're I don't it drives me nuts and it makes me feel old and insane and grouchy I love looking at next door and everybody just going good good good good good gunshots over and over and over um yeah I I you know I share the frustration um you know as a as a cat owner as well um that said in a controlled environment I love Fireworks it's something I've always loved absolutely yeah um I'm gonna bring fireworks I bring fireworks with me everywhere I go but I don't pop them off all times the night Andy uh abuse puppies and kitties in the neighborhood that's what it comes down to yeah think about the puppies yeah it's not like you could sit down with your puppies and kitties and be like all right we have a neighbor who's probably had 15 modellos and he's gonna go shoot off fireworks at 12:30 tonight you know they think um I don't know they ATT ending it's over yeah um I think I've told the story on the Pod before but one time I think it was New Year's Eve uh we were we were in the house and midnight struck and we just heard this like very loud like th th th th and at first you think that's fireworks um but then it like it was louder than you would expect it was more consistent than you'd expect and so we went and looked out our back window and our neighbor like two doors down was just firing a automatic weapon just straight up into the sky it's like cool guy this is great I love this for us and for everyone on the other end of wherever that's going to fall yeah I think we've talked about this on the Pod because I have a neighbor who uh if the Broncos are doing well or it's New Year's he shoots a revolver into the sky so it's great let's go Bronx Payton Manning luckily the Broncos have been pretty bad for the past couple of years so I don't have to worry about it's only one time a year he does the the revolver into the sky yeah all the all the Denver teams are pretty bad right except for the Nuggets I was going to say the nuggies b should have made it to the finals um the Rockies are the Rockies the ABS are pretty solid and the Broncos are in a weird situation right now I'm going Nathan well I that's I was about to get to this yeah I'm going to a footy match this weekend against STL City and whatever the team is called the Colorado Rapids owned by uh St Louis favorite Stan Kony who owns like half of the Denver teams yes um yeah I'm excited for you um how are you feeling about going I yeah I you know I couldn't really care either way uh I'll get drunk and it's close to my house so I like that yeah here's here's my recommendation for you as someone who has who has uh learned to enjoy soccer cuz I didn't I didn't for my entire life until stdl City started and now I I'm I'm really into it as I've talked about on the show a lot um you're going to the game that's the best way to engage in any sort of sport right being at the game uh pick a team obviously I would say you should pick city um but you know you're in Denver if you want to pick the Rapids whatever um pick a team and just decide that you really care and react appropriately through that the entire game it's the only only sport I've been to where everybody stands and screams it's the sport of righteous indignation okay yeah I'm whole game what Z I'm not standing the whole game I will tell you that right now it's not that long of a game I know this is tough for you and and maybe they don't do this in Colorado U you know thinner air and whatnot um but uh it's not that hard to stand for 45 minutes the game is only 45 minutes well and there's two halves you know the whole game is like two hours why am I okay it's awesome um decide that you care and that you are deeply personally offended if anything even remotely positively certainly looks negative happening to your team whether it's true or not decide that it's the most important thing that's ever happened to you and make sure everyone around you knows about that and you'll have a great time I can't even pretend to care about this conversation how am I going to pretend to care about something like yeah I okay all right fine I'll do that you'll have I Joe will be there he'll he'll Sherpa you through the rules um I don't care just scream okay just scream and decide you care all right and I think you'll have a good time I care now look at me I'm caring all right I'm feeling angry just the way that you're speaking at me right now but Chanel this energy towards the [ __ ] referees of soccer okay I'll I'll do that there was uh at the game I went to a couple weeks ago and this happens almost every single game uh there was a chant of essentially 20,000 people screaming in unison refs you suck refs you suck no that's good that I can get excited about that's what I'm saying it's fun uh it's the sport of righteous indignation every you are justified in your anger yeah and everyone around you needs to know all right I will try to open my mind in between now and then but um I hope to hate it well that might fit right in just make sure everyone around you knows that you hate all of this and you'll fit right in all right perfect are you doing anything fun for the fourth though uh yeah we're having the the homies are coming over to my house shoot off some fireworks gonna shoot off some fireworks obviously uh I am going to smoke some wings I am going to grill some shrimp wow um and I'm going to make some do whips uh for a little summer treat can you can you make homem make a Dole Whip I thought that was a pretty branded like you know specialty thing I mean it's just like pineapple and ice cream it's pretty easy it's like there's like three ingredients well sure but you know it's like saying I'm gonna make some big are you worried that I'm infringing upon the company doll's branding is that that's what it is yeah I'm hoping you paid the licensing shut the hell up you idiot you're going to get this show we're gonna get a takedown from Dole um or a sponsorship hey I'll take it I'll be making a pineapple whipped dessert how about that thank you very much [ __ ] piece of [ __ ] I still haven't had a Dole Whip come on over they've got them at the zoo here in St Louis I just haven't gone and gotten one yeah well I don't want your shitty do whips okay Ben hole whips all right well this has been really fun today uh should we talk about the Cardinals you want to do that do before we do can I hit you with a little bit of trivia at the top okay all right this is stack cast Arrow only Nathan okay who has the hardest hit home run for your St Louis Cardinals and again stat cast era only so that is 2015 till today hardest hit home run hardest hit home run okay Wilson contras incorrect you're so stupid damn it would you like to try another guest you would you like a hint uh sure I'll Take a Hint um he was recently discussed in the bird scor that's a hint that only works for a handful of people but you're in the bird so I am in it but I'm struggling to think of the specific conversation a lot of people are discussed in the birds Gord um Nolan Gorman he is known for one play on defense in particular man now I feel like an idiot I don't know just tell me Marcel Ozuna April 3rd 2018 exit velocity of 117.0 Miles hour uh against your Milwaukee Brewers so yeah I thought that was interesting know negative I was thinking like known for a play like you know like a a a a like a general type of play not a specific play like um as as expert as we saw mareluna climbing a wall falling on his face and missing a catch like a deadish what what what makes you think or what what what is bringing Marcelo Zuna to mind for you uh well we were just talking about him he's having a very good season he's had backto back very good Seasons um and we were talking about him in the bird scord recently and I was just thinking about it's kind of been stuck in my mind about how W I think that that trade made sense at the time and it just every aspect of it spidered out to go the worst possible direction for the St Louis Cardinals the like I think the primary because the thing that the Cardinals actually had control over it or to some degree I guess was that Marcel Ozuna he went from this like pretty good defensive center fielder with like 25 home run Pop um and now he is a DH that hits for high average and high power and the Cardinals got him in this like in between state where he wasn't really a good enough hitter and he wasn't a good enough outfielder so he's just kind of this like two and a half War nothing player that we ended up trading two sa young candidates away for and um if the Cardinals would have gotten the DH version the slugging 40 home run guy that would have been interesting or the center fielder would have been interesting and it's uh it's just funny how how baseball goes sometimes he's only like 33 yeah and um you know he's like a fixture of one of the better offenses in recent memory it's just it's funny how that shakes out yeah I I think um like many of the the trades that are are pretty maligned at this point like at the time it was viewed as a as a massive win I I think we were all incredibly excited about the Marcel Ozuna trade he had just come off of a huge season with the Marvel coming off a almost six War season yeah and if you remember at the time um there was it started with the uh uh Stanton nonsense the Cardinals essentially had a deal for Stanton but um he had to pick between the the Cardinal and the Yankees and he chose the Yankees and and so then they pivoted to Ozuna there was also discussion of um Yelich but the Marlins were saying we're not trading y Ozuna is on the Block and the Cardin made what everyone felt like was a really strong deal trading some some pieces what looked like Fringe Bullpen pieces you know things like that um for Ozuna and it felt like we got the real guy I remember people at the time saying like yeah the Stanton trade is cool but like we got the real long-term piece with Ozuna um he was in his he was coming into his age 27 season which is typically the peak for these types of players yeah um and then of course like a month later the Marlins do end up trading Yelich uh to the to the Brewers I think it was for Lewis Brinson who was a a very well-regarded Prospect at the time he was the centerpiece but and there were a couple other guys around yeah um and it's obviously turned into a massive win for the Brewers and um I think the Yankees are probably generally okay okay with how it went for them with Stanton um but I bet they'd also be okay if that had never happened um and then obviously like we got two looking at now he had a 107 WRC plus his first year with us and a 110 his second year so it was not um absent of value but it just it was not obviously it was not what anybody wanted yeah um I me the Cardinals went to the NLCS in 2019 which we like completely memory hold because of how it went but uh you know he was a he was a part of that team of a of a you know any other if it wasn't for how badly beaten they got in 2019 by the Nationals I think we would all think of the 2019 season as a pretty fondly as a as a very successful year and it's just yeah I agree and it's it's just funny like I'm just looking at his numbers in 2019 he had a 110 WRC plus 2.1 War like you just talked about and then in 2020 in 60 games he has a 178 RC plus and he Clips his war in either season with the Cardinals in a pandemic shortened season and just kind of took off now obviously we're into legal issues and he's kind of a piece of [ __ ] all the other stuff came say it went downhill pretty rapidly for him actually right after that it's only been these last two years where it's been kind of a Resurgence so you know it is it's been an interesting career path for him and and yeah right now I mean you know he's he's not going to to uh you know really be like an MVP candidate because he's a DH only and and whatnot but as far as offensively uh offensive speaking he he is exactly that he has a a 161 WRC plus right now well yeah okay we don't need to talk about Marcel anymore but yeah just he was kind of on my mind and I saw that stat and I was like of just I don't know it kind of fits in perfectly with the weird nature of his Cardinal tenure of course he still holds the hardest hit home run for us I'm pretty surprised that 117 I guess obviously that's super hard hit but um you know there's been plenty more of that around the league I'm kind of surprised like Wilson one of his he didn't get behind it a little bit more and and and break that yeah it wouldn't surprise me if he eclipses that at some point or gormy Eclipses that at some point somebody can on the team can can definitely outdo that yeah um well you know who uh who I think think they should be they should give a shot to this what a big league segue Nathan wow so Ben and I the way the little peig behind the curtain um Ben typically puts together the um the like outline what we're going to discuss and I go in and we we kind of talk through it before we get started but um I I'll do my stupid opening joke I come up with that before on my own and we both had kind of aligned separately that today we need to talk about Luke Baker yeah like I don't know what more this dude needs to do I know that his defensive profile is limited yeah and there's only so many at bats there with Goldie and with the DH but at what point do we give this guy a legitimate shot um he's absolutely raking in the miners I think you've got some numbers here if you want to uh run through them real quick I mean no matter how you slice it the the guy's playing well so 72 games played at Triple A right now um he has a over 133% walk rate which I think is amazing his strikeout rate has dropped down to 22% uh which is amazing he has an ISO of over 300 he is absolutely obliterating the ball 23 home runs um and he is a 562 slug uh which is total totaling for a 124 WRC plus now that 124 WRC plus doesn't exactly uh leap off the Page by any means but what should be noted is that he has a 222 babip right now meaning that for a guy that hits the ball as hard as he does now obviously he's not quick or anything like that so he might run a slightly lower babip than you would normally want but that is at least even if you're not being overly generous 40 points uh that that should be added to him so he's hitting 229 right now let's say that if he wasn't getting so unlucky he'd be hitting in the two 60s range somewhere like that with all those bombs the Cardinals have a massive problem with right-handed power to me it makes sense you can give Paul goldm days off of his feet let luk and Baker play first base and when Wilson conteras is catching he should be starting at DH now I agree when Wilson is sitting from Catcher And PES is catching I think Wilson should hit over Luke and Baker I don't even think there's really a disc about that but he should be picking up spot starts at first and dhing he's 27 years old he's built like a house he is on fire yeah um and he sustained it for you know the first half of the season so it is time to call him up yeah I agree completely um like all the underlying metrics look good if not like you said the underlying metrics almost um or like they showcase his surface level stats could be even better right with a little bit more luck I've seen comps to uh Christian Walker now Christian Walker is also a gold glove first baseman Lucan like maybe one of the best defensive players in baseball who happens to play first base so it's not a a pure comp because I don't think anyone is saying luk and Baker is gonna do that at first base but the similar type of guy who comes up you know I'm doing air quotes here for the podcast like later uh in life as a 27y old um and absolutely crushes the ball at the major league level um I also saw like Max Muny as another type of comp for him at least offensive profile um and I certainly seems to me that the Cardinals could absolutely use someone like that and I hate to say it we've talk we've been talking about this off and on for the last year um but it might be time to start looking at what the Cardinals look like without Paul gold Schmid and uh it might be big old Luc and Baker standing at first base hitting 30 bombs a year like that might be both the best thing for the next couple years and it could even be the best thing for right now um and I hate that because we all love future Hall of Famer Paul gold Schmid um but you've got this dude crushing at the ma at the minor league level and maybe it's time to start sprinkling him in a little bit more giving Goldie some more days off seeing what you've got in Luke and Baker because I don't know what else he can do in the miners I don't know what else he can do and it's an obvious need for the team Aeron is not going to sit um because of every all the baggage that comes with a Nolan Aeron I think Paul goldm May maybe is a little more likely to sit the problem with Paul gold Schmid and I'm not trying to sit here and say that the at bats have been where they need to be and what I expect him to be but he has been underperforming his underlying metrics there is room for growth if you look at his expected batting average expected slug expected woba his hard hit percentage his Barrel percentage all of those things should add up to him being more productive than he is has been this year but the fact of the matter is that like Nate said he is getting older it seems less and less likely that he is going to play face first base for the St Louis Cardinals next year for a myriad of reasons uh unless there's a real te team-friendly deal coming at the end of this year which I don't think is completely out of the question um and I guess just while we're talking about that uh I'd like to say there is absolutely no chance in hell the Cardinals are trading Paul gmid uh this year I know I've seen some people talking about that online I think Katie Woo got this question recently it is absolutely not going to happen um I I I can't even think of the scen the only I can't think of what it would be if Jordan Walker becomes a Super Saiyan over the next month and we have to put him at I I I don't this I can't think of the scenario so he's going to be here I think that there is a way to get Lucan Baker and Paul gmid abs and I don't think it's that difficult um but I think the time is now yeah obviously there is some still some belief in goldm um like you said if you look under the hood if you look at his stat cast page um there's there's still a fair amount of red um expected woba uh in the 330s which is not you know career average for him but if if he was if he had a 330 woba um as surface results we'd be feeling a lot better about Paul gold Schmid right now uh and I think that's I mean if he was hitting above 250 yeah I mean it's just been rough yeah I I have to imagine that's also the it's the underlying numbers the expected numbers is more why gold Schmid has stayed in his exact same spot in the lineup uh more or less whereas arado has been dropped um I mean it could be the respect play yeah but they're dropping arado and I feel like he's I mean I know Goldie's been here a little bit longer but like you know I I I wouldn't imagine that Goldie would get the like respect you're staying in your spot in the lineup and Aeron wouldn't yeah you know what I mean um well that I mean the Aeron of it all is it's I mean we're going to talk about Tim Anderson later like I'm not saying that this is that bad but aerona falloff at least through the first half of this year is kind of legend or not legendary is not the right word but kind of no historical is not the right word it's massive I'll just say that he has gone from being a a a League average exit velocity guy to a well below League average exit V his hard hit percentage is under 30 which he has never done in his career and like people who hit have a hard hit percentage under 30 are like uh Luis Aras like it it's a totally different style of player alog together um it is amazing and horrible I do think if I had to place a bet today we're recording on July 3 of who's going to have a better second half Nolan Aron or Paul goldshmid I'd probably say Paul goldi because of those underlying metrics he is still hitting the ball hard he's not making the best swing decisions um and that might be a vision thing it might be a timing thing I don't know but he's still when he makes contct it goes he's still barreling it up um his bat speed is still above average for a guy that's in his late 30s it's kind of amazing um and Nolan I mean we don't need to dunk on him right now I guess but it's just not going that way man have you uh have you ever looked at Aaron judge's statcast page yeah that's just that's just fun if you just like looking at good baseball players and what it looks like when you look at these dudes like we're so you like with the way the Cardinal season has been for the last year and a half I'm so used to pulling up stat cast and being like well you know if you dig through this and like there's a little red here and like you know there's some signs here that this is turning around or whatever and then you just pull up Aaron judges and it's like it looks like instate Video Game World where you're like yeah you know I've been doing Road to the Show in the show for three years straight now my guy throws 107 mile per hour twoam fastball is today is this I'm only speaking about right now is Aaron judge the best player in baseball um it it's hard to argue against that I mean I think you could still maybe look at Otani um because Otani is essentially doing the same but also stealing bases not playing defense what that he's not playing defense true so overall player um yeah you did say player not just like hitter or offensive player um yeah it'd be really hard to argue for anyone other than judge he's amazing yeah including that defense side of it um although he doesn't rate as well defensively but he is playing defense which oani is not so that's fair yeah um but anyway going all the way back um Baker should be called up and I I I hope it I hope it happens soon um I think the only aspect of calling a baker that's maybe somewhat complicated is who do you send down obviously you can't send PES away um Brandon Crawford is still on this team um Jose fine probably makes the most sense also has been a bit of a ghost we haven't seen him play much and then there's Dylan Carlson who I think again um there there's nothing else to do with Dylan Carlson and is just help him or hope he figures it out at the big league level so I I guess I just talked myself into it's pretty simple swap him for Jose for mean um and maybe give the guy some at bats which they have not been doing for Jose at all yeah I mean or and I know it's it's not like for like but um Matt Carpenter um you know there's there's that opportunity too I I Matt Carpenter is the starting DH right now I know Matt Carpenter is on this team um also leadership also beardsmens also grittiness also conversations in The Dugout beard it's looking great he's looking good up there so I mean that's that matters he's not moving uh uh no he's rarely moving you're right um he's only got an eight and a half walk uh walk rate this year which is by far the worst of his career well when you grip it and rip it as well as he does why you why you're not up there to draw a walk you know what I mean not to overuse ISO in this but you know it isolate it tries to just focus on his power numbers uh like a a decent ISO is around 200 he is his ISO is point 097 so I'm not sure gripping it and ripping it is the best way to describe Matt Carpenter's performance this year um I he made a play at second base though did you have we talked about that no he looks good better than I expected him to look um yeah sure you know he he still got a little bit in him gritty guty white guy let's go um if you're if you don't know what ISO is specifically you just subtract their batting average from their slugging so it's it's the obviously the it's basically like how many more than singles are they hitting how slug do you do how many slug do you do yeah um no I'm thinking about Slug worth from I have you seen the new Wonka movie with uh Timothy shalamay no it looks so stupid to me it it's fine yeah um it's I think it's kind of fun um but it's like not willly Wonka you know what I mean well like if there's a problem that we have right now of filling in backstory for characters who do not need their backstory filled and I think the best part about Wonka is that he's just insane I don't want to see young Wonka I well totally or if you're gonna give me young Wonka my rapper name Young Wonka um if you're gonna give me young Wonka make him an [ __ ] old Wonka is an [ __ ] or let me understand how he becomes an [ __ ] yeah he he is a he's a little freak you know what I mean and and and Timothy shom Wonka he's just like a nice guy who's just trying to do his best and he is through the whole thing I kept waiting for him to be scorned and you know become like jaded and and twisted and uh instead it's just like oh wow we love the Willie so I do want to see the new uh Horizon movie The three-hour cowboy movie uh that's a little more my my style yeah I saw a I saw a a um this like a picture online it was someone trying to reserve seats for for that movie yeah and it was excl exclusively single seats had been sold just you know Pock marked throughout the theater yeah so was like this is a movie uh for single people to go see yeah I mean it's a three-hour cowboy movie part it's part one of four by the way yeah um I'm looking forward to it and guess what I have friends that want to go so I'll be at least two of those seats there you go as opposed to how you normally buy two seats because I'm fat yeah because you have to you lift the middle one and yeah yeah that was really good you need another seat for all your nachos and hot dogs stuff oh oh it's not my body it's just all my treats now that sound I'm I'm for that that sounds great I need a seat for my Budweiser and my French fries can I can you bring the butter spet out and install it in the seat next to me why haven't they already done that Nate like what do I I got to go talk to a guy for butter he's going to judge me why can't I get my own butter at my seat I'm sick I'm sick of having to talk to people and move for butter America 202 vote for me America 2024 yikes uh big yikes uh what do you want to talk about next Cardinals uh I want to talk about the month of June a little bit and uh it's obviously it's done we killed it we did it on to the next May there never be another on to the next there might not um and you know we kind of talked about going into Jun and what was important for the Cardinals and I think I was ranting and raving about the uh like the home run inbalance right um so I thought it'd be fun to follow up on that the Cardinals had the best record uh over the month of June um in the National League why was that well one of those reasons is because they gave up the fewest number of home runs they're tied with the Royals only gave up 20 over the entire month which is obviously amazing any month any team that's a crazy low number after less than one per game in today's game isn't easy wow um so that was amazing um and then maybe slightly less impressive is that the team was able to outpace that small number Homer wise they hit 29 home runs over the month put them I think that right at 15 or 16th overall in the big league which is a very encouraging sign and I think you know if I if you heard that the Cardinals were middle of the packing home runs in the ntion or in the league in the month of June and we knew that essentially we had no Wilson contaras that entire time Nolan Gorman uh was not a factor the entire or not really a factor the entire time really yeah I mean that's kind of amazing um that that they were even able to scrape what they did together yeah yeah I mean best record in the NL in the month like what more can you ask for it it's the it's exactly what they needed to do to keep this season relevant um anything less than that and they are multiple games back of uh any sort of playoff picture right now and we're probably talking more earnestly about what selling looks like um but they did it and uh you know here we are July 3rd and while it is a very small lead um they are are still in sole position of a wild card spot and the Braves have been struggling a little bit and the Cardinals are actually two and a half games back from the number one wildcard spot um and I mean it it's a full season turnaround now I think you and I and most Cardinal fans have a healthy amount of skepti skepticism and and just general malays about the team that it's going to take I think at least another month of real success maybe not best in the NL like that's an unreasonable expectation for any team um but we need to see this for much longer than we have to really start to switch the gears into like this is a good team like this team could you know they're not the best in the NL they're not going to compete with the Dodgers um uh like on on paper or or um the Phillies on paper although Philly's just had two major injuries um but like Trey Turner is also back and he hit two home runs last night he is back um they're just a good team but like maybe maybe we're in this period of we can transition into like this team is good or at least not bad um but again I think we all we all want to see it a little bit more because yeah uh you know it it was also like just again best record it took it took a full month of the best record in baseball to get back to like a reasonable level and that's because the first two months of the Season it was just bad well something that might blow your mind a smidge about the Cardinals performance in the month of June we'll stick on the offense right now we're talking about home runs and those kind of came up and down uh Burley probably unsurprisingly uh led the team in homers uh this month with seven which I mean when did we talked about it what was a month and a half ago we we were ranting and raving about the Burley breakout I mean I think we can feel pretty Justified that he is he is here he is with us he has risen um which is great beef beef Brendan Donovan had the most productive um uh month of any Cardinal player uh and the his was kind of contributed all over the place uh but playing a decent defense and obviously hitting well Michael canani tied with Alec burlson and Ivon Herrera as far as production in the month of June he put up a little over half a war he hit 277 um the guy can't walk to save his life there's not much power there but that kind of shocked me a little bit that he his defense alone I mean he is depending on what defensive metrics you subscribe to he's the best center fielder in baseball right now what the hell like found this guy under a Reds colored Rock they gave him up it's amazing yeah I don't know what to make of it I right now i' I've taken the The Stance of enjoy the ride you know um but we've had a lot of debate on this show about like who do the Cardinals run out in Centerfield when Dylan Carlson's back when Lars nbar is back who's playing Centerfield when Edmond if you've ever heard of that guy when he comes back yeah who's playing center field and Ci's done everything exactly right to prove to all of us that we need to shut the hell up and just let them cook he needs to be the center fielder right now how do you how do you dislodge the best center fielder in baseball from his position yeah like if they did if they took uh Harrison Bader out of center field when he was hitting you know a buck 50 or whatever I think we all would have screamed at him and I think we're kind of looking at a less viby Harrison Bader right now yeah um and defensively if I may go back to my little metrics here uh don't look at the offensive ones for canani on stat cast it's uh maybe the opposite of Aaron judge um but he is in the 100th percentile in range as a center fielder he's the best he's the best he's the guy it's amazing yeah um all right yeah I just needed to highlight that and then I I do want to talk about the pitching uh Sunny gray uh you know I think uh I I just feel like he's not getting enough credit he's a sa young candidate he had an amazing month he put up almost a 1.5 War um he led the team in Innings led the team in strikeouts unless your name is Ryan Hesley or strikeout percentage sorry unless your name is Ryan Hesley um and he had a 353 erra his underlying metrics look even better than that he he was amazing um Ryan Hesley just won NL reliever of the month um he has what is it 31 closes he got his 31st last night which also set a cardinal record for uh most before the allstar Break um which you know the the save stat is a little bit fluky because you know it it the Cardinals have won an insane amount of um small or one run games he's had an he's had an incredible amount of opportunity um and just having a lot of save opportunities doesn't necessarily mean you're on a good or bad team um so there's some like exposure you know what's the word I'm looking for like you know volume in that category doesn't necessarily mean extreme success um but in this case it's both he's been he's had a ton of opportunity because of all of the one run or or you know less than three Run games that the Cardinal have been playing and he's uh pretty much been Unstoppable in every single one of his opportunities there's been little moments I know it's been talked about in the bird scord too where like he just looks uncomfortable on the mound sometimes um and you get a little worry about his command he'll walk a guy or two and you know he's not infallible but overall I mean this has been one of the more dominant performances from a reliever that we've seen seen uh not just as a cardinal but just in baseball I think you know you're you're saying canani is the best center fielder in baseball right now which I have a hard time repeating but defensively defensively yeah Hesley might be or is the best reliever in baseball right now and I I know we talked about this last year and I think this reinforces that um it's hard to put a lot of put like an entire season on one person's shoulders or a a single injury um you know having an impact across the entire team in the entire season um but we talked last year like did the Hesley injury last year was that the was that the breaking point of 2023 and the lack of Ryan Hesley um was that the the source of the main problem the cels had in 2023 and considering how good the bull pin's been considering how well the Cardinals have done in one- Run games or you know in in small Run games and the success that hel's had it kind of looks that way right is he the most important player on this team I mean I think I I luckily I think the P Bullpen is in a much better place generally this year than it was last year like if Helly did have to miss a a closing opportunity um if oryan Fernandez or kitridge or JoJo Romero went out I would wouldn't be screaming and you know I think the Cardinals would be fine now if he was out for a couple of months I might go back to feeling that way because I I think that it's that nature of like it is the style that you Lo of losing games wi the back of your Bullpen is bad that I think is really tough to get back to the ballpark the next day and for the fans and for the players like the players are just player like humans they can't they cannot forget oh my God we've lost 20 games in a row in or we've lost 20 games in the ninth this year that hurts and that it's not easy to just forget that so I think there is the nature of like having somebody be successful in the ninth inning makes everybody else's job even if it's 5% easier and if your job is 5% easier than the team that you're playing then you might win that game I I do think that you know it's unquantifiable really um because he has really only thrown 13 innings in the month of June um and it's you know obviously Sunny gay is more important than that obviously uh Alec burlson is more important than that but from a vibes from a team from like a winning standpoint it's hard to argue against what you said yeah well and the uh the elephant in the room as far as the cardal success goes is that um their run to for inal is pretty bad and their uh Pythagorean uh you know win prediction is pretty bad yeah um and so you you know these things happen in small sample sizes um but it essentially the Cardinals have gotten kind of the inverse of last year is that the Cardinals have gotten have have performed considerably better in one run games this year than they did last year and uh it's hard not to say that's you know it some of it's luck it's absolutely luck sequencing of when you know people have bad games when uh levers have bad games when particular hitters have good games and whatnot um but without Ryan Hesley and those 13 Innings if half of those ended up being losses instead we're down four games in the in the wild card and everything is just feels fundamentally different you're you're under 500 uh everyone hates the team you're break team in 28 days or whatever yeah that's that's the fact of and that's half of his performances yeah uh so yeah I mean it's kind of amazing but um God bless Ryan Hy yeah all right there's a a few transactions that we want to talk about a couple updates on some on some movements as well and some rehabs so I think the biggest one um Gordon grao yeah has made his MLB debut briefly we saw him in relief felt similar to like a Clen Stein sort of thing um but we saw him in relief looked pretty good overall how do you feel about uh grappo's MLB debut I thought he looked fantastic I thought that he made an argument to stay uh he he faced uh what he threw uh sorry pulling it up he threw four and a third uh he only gave up three hits one earned run he got four strikeouts uh and the stuff looked better than I thought it was going to look I don't know he was throwing gas he was getting that fast ball that heater above the strike zone his breaking balls were working I thought he looked really good um yeah I thought he looks so good that like maybe he's first in line if if Andre Palante scuffles or if another pitcher gets hurt that he might be the first name I'm calling but well they've kind of broken the seal on him at this point right like he's up he's done it so I have to imagine he's pretty high on that list yeah so no notes um looked great he uh I don't like he didn't even look like he was in over like nervous or I don't know he looked great yeah yeah have nothing else to say other than give me more grao yeah yeah it's and it's also fun to see you know this a guy we've talked about for quite a while some ups and downs it's cool to see him make his major league debut yeah absolutely um the Cardinals also uh called up uh you got very well-known Prospect equally uh equally as as uh revered um Jacob boic kovic boio kovic bovic bovic bovic from the from the uh Memphis Redbirds um he's pitched 30 Innings at Memphis this year has pretty good results um you know he's kind of a journeyman I think he was a he actually he comes from year home turf Ben he was a Colorado Rocky before so can you give us a little scouting report on this guy so according to baseball reference the pronunciation is Bo OIC bovic it's a fun name um I know that he was a first baseman um when he was a rocky I know that he had a little bit of power uh and washed out uh end of list yeah it was a 19th round pick in 2016 there's another factoid I can throw at you uh but yeah he's converted to pitching and it seems to be going well he's kind of like a older I don't know the Cardinals have these guys guys like a Roy cofan type dude filled with these you know bullpens are filled with these guys all over the league um a pretty good cap per nine in his time at Memphis so he's striking guys out he's walking guys a little effectively wild um and the Cardinals are being I I I have a lot of problems with the front office I continue to applaud the way that they have handled the bullpen I think this is a continuation of that let's keep trying guys especially if they're having good numbers if they're striking guys out maybe it'll work in the big leagues um yeah but yeah I love it lowrisk you know maybe High reward but um you know yeah I agree it kind of bums me out that like he's not washed out by any means but a kind of like a post post post Prospect hype type guy um was born in 1993 that kind of bumps me out but uh you know I guess every day above ground is is good there you go um all right new has began his rehab assignment yeah um I'm excited this feels like the potential icing on the cake of a like return to a a fun lineup that produces um you know I don't want to put too much on one dude's shoulder but we talked about him last week new seemed like he was kind of bringing it all together before he got hurt again now he's began his rehab should be back relatively soon assuming rehab goes well uh I'm excited more n yeah I think uh you know I don't think the the rehab is going to take all that long and I think there's a chance um I I could see him being the best player on the Cardinals uh in the second half of the season if he can just stay healthy uh but kind of you know you settle him into the top of the lineup I don't know if he kicks Mason win out of the leadoff position um maybe you do you know new Burley contras to start off or or I don't know exactly how it looks maybe you there's some kind of mination but him being in the top four uh probably makes a lot of sense and especially against right-handed uh pitching but um yeah can't can't wait to have n back and um I think he'll be like I said I just expect him to be great the second half of the Season man wi hit his 17th double last night yeah and like going into this year if you had said win will hit 17 doubles this year I would have been like hell yeah that's pretty good that's a pretty good growth for him you know that's that's that's not bad like okay maybe we get up to 25 30 doubles in his uh in his next year and the fact that he's we're you know we're at halfway and he's already at 17 I mean uh pretty remarkable you can't say it enough he has just been amazing and like hasn't really had a long bump like hasn't had a real long dip or anything like that and continued to play great defense his defense is actually getting better um yeah he's the man yes he is um well uh speaking of prospects not as good of speaking of men here's another man they just be our transition for this entire show speaking of men we should change name last week this we talking about men yeah that's what the world needs right now let's do a show called talking about men um brought to you by men you guessed it two men all right no we're barely men uh the uh Futures game yeah a fun a fun element of the All-Star break is coming up um and the Cardinals have a couple representations there a couple AES uh one not surprising at all Tink hence continuing his Ascension to uh you know top pitching Prospect in baseball uh and followed by new new kid on the Block he's new in town Quinn Matthews who was recently promoted to double a yeah I know you you and Kyle spoke a lot about Quinn on the episode a month or two ago and he's continued to do well and he's um you know facing higher and higher challenges which I know Kyle really spoke about like it's pretty obvious he can crush the lower miners we won't really know what we have with Quinn Matthews until he starts seeing the higher minors and eventually MLB level um but it's really fun to have him in this Futures game yeah it's extremely exciting he's only just looked better and better and better that fastball V is really impressive the breaking stuff is really impressive and of course he has that knockout change up um so yeah like you said he just got promoted to Able a he has only had one start there so we will uh obviously watch his career with great interest and and see what happens there and I think it should uh we should also take the time to point out that while tin kin had a little bit of an injury issue this season and kind of a slow start he has hit the gas pedal since then yes uh so he now has 54 and 2/3 Innings over 12 game started in AA he's rocking an over 12K per nine and under three walk per nine he's not giving up any home runs his erra is low his FIP and xfip are even lower um I mean the kid he's been lights out uh I think a promotion to Triple A or to the big leagues is extremely uh maybe not likely but very possible and it's dinging again um do you can you just respect uh yourself never all right so I you know tank hints is kind of that dude he's 21 um I don't know like is is he going to come up and stabilize the starting rotation probably not but he's doing all the stuff you need him to do and it's hard for me we saw that fastball in spring training it's hard for me to imagine that stuff not playing in the big leagues but obviously it's easier said than done yeah I mean what more do you won from this dude we we're like I think it's it's actually a pretty strong reinforcement of his future value when we talk about the struggles that he had the injury the the slow start like those are all going to happen and being able to bounce back overcome and be even better is ex what you have to do to be successful and and we're seeing that so I think he this to me all seems like he's marching towards a classic a classic September callup um where you know we maybe give him a spot start or two near the end of the season um hopefully like really the the Cardinals particular position in the standings in the playoff race and what they need will probably be the Bigg bger dictator of that than necessarily his own performance um though I could see a world where he crushes he gets promoted to Triple A crushes and basically like forces the Cardinal's hand because he's playing so well and you could always use more pitching especially when you're in a playoff hunt um so there there's obviously he has some control over it but I think it's probably more determined by just like the appetite for something like that in a period like that um but it seems to me his growth and his performance means either September callup or battling for an opening day roster position in 2025 I'm hoping for just straight to the rotation um but we have seen Cardinals and other teams have some success with the short-term Bullpen assignment when they get called up and the and the TR transition to rotation as as they find their footing I I would have no problem with that and I think especially we just talked about grao if grao is the guy or whatever and and Tink makes more sense than the bullpen I I would have no issues with that whatsoever yeah yeah um so pretty cool and I hope he gets a good some a good Spotlight in uh in in the future's game there he's already being talked about as potential top pitching Prospect in baseball um there there's some good there's some good pitching prospects out there so it's hard to get to that exact tier um but he he's pretty far up there and uh and it's it's deserved and a lot of fun so all right um we want to talk about the upcoming series and some League news and whatnot uh but before we do we want to remind that this show is listener supported by listeners just like you you right now wherever you are driving your car doing your dishes um firing fireworks near your cats whatever you are wherever you are we didn't want that uh I don't I I don't we can't trust our listeners it's fair um but they're all the best people who uh want to show their support for the show and the best way they can show their support for the show is by joining our patreon patreon.com talkingabout Birds um we spend a lot of time and effort and some money to bring the show to you every single week and the the patreon uh help helps us do that helps us afford some of the cost for this and um just kind of keep the show running and keep the show growing so if you want to support us uh we appreciate it patreon.com talkingabout Birds everyone who subscribes gets access to our private Discord server we've talked about it a fair amount today already um it's a great place to chat with other Cardinal fans other listeners of the show um get away from the fractured social media 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talkingabout Birds uh you can find us on Tik Tok if you want to look at our faces you can listen to this show on Spotify or on YouTube uh we're available everywhere um if you want to get in contact with us you can email us anything to talk about birds gmail.com you can find all of that information at talkingabout birds.com and of course as always you can call us and leave a voicemail at 848-4884 1848 8 24737 848 48 Birds lines are open right now let's go to the phones uh excuse me uh why do you guys uh suck well you I love the commitment to the bit there you can tell you started talking before you had any idea what you were going to say uh which is kind of the nature of the show that I suppose nailed it all right so the Cardinals continue um their stretch of games against mediocre teams uh which overall has gone really well that's part of why they have the best record in baseball in June even though sometimes you split a series at home against the Reds uh they will travel to our nation's capital what a lovely Capital wow uh to DC to play the Nationals I think the the notable thing about the Nationals right now is uh we're really starting to see that Juan SoDo trade uh come into uh come to view here um CJ Abrams started the season as looking like the TR like a true breakout looked like he might be one of the best Short Stops in baseball sort of in the same mold as like a Trey Turner type uh he's cooled off a little bit but he's still having a fantastic season and and just this weekend they called up uh James Wood who is one of these Mega Prospect monster dudes who hits the ball really hard kind of does everything the question will be can he put it all together at the major league level um and uh I mean he he's he opened up his career with a incredibly hard hit ball going the other way and he looks like a lot of fun like every time these guys get called up your Ellie your wood your O'Neal crw I'm just like come on Jordan Walker be I think he needs long hair I think we need Jordan Walker to grow his hair out to like length because that's what all the other ones are doing I really this is just a personal uh opinion I do not like his goatee Jordan Walker get rid of the goatee my guy it's not a good look makes him look like 35 when he's 21 he does he's got old eyes too he's got somber eyes which makes him look a lot older than he actually is um but anyway James Wood like minor league level you know incredible one of the top prospects in baseball he's only played two games now at the major league level so hard to have any real opinion just yet but he sure seems legit and is likely going to be a centerpiece of the Nationals going forward yeah they are young um and unproved in but but interesting um McKenzie Gore is a above average starter who hasn't fully clicked in yet Jake Irvin is having a really nice year for them um and finnean and Harvey at the back of their Bullpen are As Good As It Gets um outside of that the team is pretty mediocre like Nick senzel is their starting third baseman um you know Joey Manus is still kicking around over there uh but yeah there there's not a lot to be afraid um but you know CJ Abrams and James Wood Could at any point turn a game on its head because they just have that kind of talent now they're young and inconsistent right now like you said but yeah we'll see um and I guess shout out to Jesse Winker he's kind of having a bounceback year yeah which is is nice to see I always always a fan of him and his game but um he just kind of complet fell apart win can hit yeah yeah um after that we get the I70 series always a good time uh but the Cardinal are going to see a Kansas City Royals team that uh might feel a little different than it has been over the last five years them the new look uh Royals it's the new look Royals wow they have one of my favorite players in baseball um you know MV now MVP candidate probably won't get it because of guys like judge and and uh and Soto and Otani or whatnot but Bobby Whit Jr um who styled his uh play after Mike Trout um he he look why doesn't everybody do that I know right seems obvious um he he looks a lot like Mike Trout in the Box um and has a very similar game to Mike Trout except he's Elite shortstop instead of center field but he can do everything yeah and he's like 23 um he's incredible if if we're having this conversation next year I would not be surprised if you and I say Bobby would junor is the best player in baseball yeah it's coming yeah um he does everything so you got to look out for him um Cole Reagan I don't know if we'll see him in this it's a two- game series I don't know if we'll see him he's one of the more exciting Young starting pitchers who they got for was it Chapman last year from the rers as Chapman got them a potential Saun candidate in Cole Reagan yeah you don't see that as much any and I think it they they basic they they straight up fleece the Rangers obviously the Rangers won a World Series so you know they're fine they're going to justify every move they made and say we won flag fly forever and that is their right they won but you got to imagine they're like what the [ __ ] oops Yeah Big oops uh because Cole Reagan looks incredible um fan favorites alvor Perez is having a great year um doing what he always does hitting the ball really hard um I don't know who else am I missing here uh pastino is having a really nice year um uh he he's kind of coming into his Zone and he's healthy uh I like Michel Garcia he's not totally putting it together but I just love his he's a excellent excellent defensive player and he's super fast um I I think that he's going to be a good player maybe not this year but soon um and I think you cannot sleep on Seth Lugo Seth Lugo in his age 34 season is putting together the best year of his career and if you look at the underlying metrics he has some of the best breaking balls in baseball two of them um just totally lights out and what he'll do is I watched a couple of Seth Lugo starts because it's I I've been watching the Royals a bit this year because they're much more entertaining than they have been for the past decade um are you saying they're the new look Royals the new look Royals it's funny if you watch a Seth Lugo start he'll throw it's just like junk ball junk ball junk ball and he throw 93 kind of down the middle and people are swinging at it like it's 103 um and he just does it over and over again he's had a great year he's very impressive um but yeah outside of that you know uh might get to see Michael Waka um their Bullpen kind of sucks uh their team's not all the way there I think they are obviously On The Rise though they are a team that is only going to get better and better yeah their their offense is pretty varied got Mashers they've got speed guys they got Bobby wh who can do everything like it's a pretty good lineup that can beat you um so two games always a fun series uh hopefully it goes well but I love watching the Cardinal play the Royals hell yeah brother all right little bit of League news let's let's hop in what you got for us hambo yeah the uh Stupid Brewers are NL Central Division Rivals make a very interesting trade they trade uh for Aaron savali from the Rays to the Brewers for some minor league guys um it's I think this is a good trade for the Brewers I I like that they're doing it as early as they're doing it um and I think saali will fit in really well there um so credit to the Brewers for getting it done quick uh obviously they're trying to stay above the Cardinals um so I think it's a smart move smartly timed they didn't give up anything from their big league roster to get this uh and of course you know they're raised just continue to grab your pitchers make them better trade them back to somebody else and bolster their their farm system um yep you know it goes back to that was that Sam Miller tweet uh great trade for the Rays I wonder who they got and who they gave up but uh it just always seems to work out for them but I I think this this will help the Brewers in the short term and the the rais in the long term so I agree I think this makes a lot of sense and I'd love to see the Cardinals have the same sorts of urgency um sali's not had a particularly good year um some of that is bad luck his uh ra is far higher than his expected ra and xfip and he has had a history of um success but he he I think a lot of people were anticipating the race to like do a what they did with like Zack effin last year you know and take a guy who's been sort of middling and and refine him and make him excellent and they didn't quite do that no with Sali but the it the the the Brewers also didn't give up a lot either um so it's a pretty good trade I I I think you could see a world where he just gets crushed as a brewer also you know um less good ballpark um there's there's a lot of reasons why this might not be like a GameChanger for the Brewers but again I do like to see that that urgency and I wish like I would be I would have been pretty happy if the Cardinals had traded for Aaron Sali yeah uh with this cost so I'm disappointed that it was the Brewers nothing the Brewers have Dallas kyel in their starting rotation right now they need so that that's why I'm really praising this deal they need it they got it it was nothing um and he is absolutely a major league starter he is not going to be starting game one of the playoffs um but he I think this was a smart move and smartly timed like I said yeah I hope it goes horribly uh yes hopefully everyone dies um the Marlins has designated former Allstar Tim Anderson for assignment um I don't really have much flavor to add to this other than like really like ta uh was one of my favorite players I loved watching him play and he's just like completely disintegrated into nothing to the point that where he's being dropped by a team who doesn't have a shortstop um yeah that's just it's bummer yeah I mean his version of success was always a tightwire or tight rope a tight wire a tight RPP walk right like it's the same thing with like a a r like a really high batting average um it with a little bit of power is incredibly valuable but the moment that uh incredibly High batting average becomes not uh you know the wheels start to fall off a little bit um and but still like this this collapse I mean yeah I loved Tim Anderson too um I was a big fan of him and he had some incredibly successful years with the White Soxs and it is just I mean a complete collaps to the point where I wonder if he even gets picked up um if you're being dropped by the Marlins yeah I I I don't know maybe he'll take he'll probably get a minor league deal somewhere you know he needs help no home runs this year uh he's not walking he's striking out a lot um yeah well he's always been he's swung at everything yeah you know he he didn't he never drew a lot of walks but he also didn't strike out a ton he swung at everything he hit the ball a ton it went over the wall more than you would think but still never a ton and he was fast and now he just swings at everything and misses or when he does hit it doesn't go very far he hit over 300 with a less than 16% K rate in 2022 like yeah it just wild um okay season and a half later and he's essentially done yeah it's not great uh and let's round this out by talking about Orlando sepa uh he just passed away as I'm I'm sure everyone is familiar with and obviously was part of some great uh Cardinals teams um so I just kind of wanted to spit a couple of facts about him uh uh he was on the Cardinals uh in the late 60s he won an MVP with the Cardinals in 1967 uh the same year that the Cardinals won the World Series yeah and big Cardinal years just wanted to read off the names that he was playing with uh so obviously Orlando sepa uh and then some of his teammates were Tim McCarver Mike Shannon Lou Brock Kurt flood Roger marris Steve Carlton Bob Gibson just to name a few um I mean Hall of Famers legendary broadcasters some of the best I ever do Kurt flood one of the more important socially and for the game uh in baseball just kind of amazing and and yeah just Orlando sepa obviously just wanted to kind of celebrate him for a second yeah yeah I mean and again won an MVP right in the middle of all of that so like huge part of one of the like defining eras of St Louis Cardinal baseball hell yeah uh for first Puerto Rican to make an All-Star Game didn't know that just just read that right now there you go awesome and that's all I got for League news this week all right well hamone we've reached the halfway point of the season um and I thought now would be a good time for us to check in on our little game draft day heroes and hatchlings Edition I feel like I crushed it this year you think so I don't know probably not I don't remember who I drafted all I know is that goldon it's been [Music] rough you turned up the theme on me while I was talking that was extremely rude it was great I think in the mix it's going to come out where everyone could hear you but I couldn't hear a single word you said and it was my favorite part of the podcast that is just rude so if you uh new to the show at the beginning of the Season Ben and I did a draft we picked three players from the 40 man from the it was act I get it wrong every time it was three players from the active 26 man yes and then three players who were not right uh and we've been tracking them uh and whoever has the most fan graphs War at the end of the season wins um so I will run through our teams give you an update of where they are and where they were last time we'll see who is leading so uh with the first pick in the draft I took Nolan Aron uh we've talked enough about yeah how disappointing that has been I was all in on the Aeron bounceback and I thought at the very least the defensive floor would make would provide me with a ton of value and that has proven to be incorrect uh he is currently AC crewed 1.2 F4 he is up 0.2 from the quarter Mark of the Season he was at one last time we checked in uh somewhere around 40 games and now he's at 1.2 so there you go particularly disappoint appointing last 40ish games uh I also then selected Jordan Walker who maintains his negative point2 from the last time we checked in and I selected Wilson conteras who is now back but has not accured any more war since the last time we did this uh but he is still leading my pack at least at a solid 1.8 I'm I'm expecting he's he's my horse my chance at staying in this I believe in him I rounded out my choices with luk and Baker I'm I'm hopeful to get some points from him here is why okay I see uh I will say that is when I Was preparing for this episode um when I was like oh I'm gonna talk about Luke and Baker at the end I will I'll like I'll do a bit about Luke and Baker and then I saw your outline I was like oh well Ben wants to do a whole segment on Luc and Baker so give me that luuk um Team kin who we also talked about and tooa Robi okay so I've yet to have a debut from my hatchlings side right uh you having the second pick in the draft took Paul goldmit uh everybody was saying how smart that was everybody everybody news reports left and right now you he's actually this number is sad he is 0. 2f war yeah so he is a full War behind Aeron for all of our concerns about Aeron Goldie is having a far worse season than Aeron which is sad um but hey when we talked about this 40 games ago he was at negative point4 let's go so he is on the come up that is a uh that is plus point6 F4 in your book here's your real winner you took Sunny Gray next yeah Sunny gray leading the pack he's at 2.5 War acre as you actually mentioned earlier 1.5 since the last time we checked in on this yeah um and then your next pick Nolan Gorman uh that that cold streak really tanked Corman he was I mean he was looking like a the true breakout um but he did gain some he is currently AT3 F4 uh which does remind you that just hitting a lot of dingers is not necessarily like big picture valuable he has 17 home runs and a three F war and is technically leading Paul gold Schmid yes which is also weird and sad bad um so all your guys though gained in the last period uh your hatchling side was uh Thomas Aji Gordon grao the first of this group to make a debut this year now he is not he did not acrew any war in his oh come on um but he's he's now there um and Michael McGreevy who uh has done nothing yet so the final results right now I have 2.8 combined F4 all right and you have three on the button go Sunny gray all day yes yes so I was crushing you in the first checkin on this um but my team they did I I acred eight my six players Nolan arado Jordan Walker Wilson conteras all these guys accured a total point war in the last 40 something games oh no good again you contras wasn't here Walker wasn't here and aado hasn't done [ __ ] so it's still bad though that's still really bad yeah okay we we when we did this exercise we're basically trying to predict who we think will be the six most impactful players to the team this year yeah and uh boy could I have not been any more wrong at least for the last 40 games it's remarkable that the Cardinals are winning they had the best month in the NL and it had nothing to do with Nolan arado Jordan Walker or Wilson conteras or Paul gold well Paul Goldman acur almost a little over half a war you're right you're right he in that period so Goldie did contribute yes as did Sunny gray Gorman did not really contribute he but he he was positive he had a point to so your team gained 2.3 wore in the last 40ish games M crw point2 we did not draft Brendan Donovan we did not draft Mason win we did not draft Alec burlson we did not all right uh Ivon Herrera none of these guys that uh have had you know the impact except for sunny gray you get Sunny gray and sunny gray was a huge part of this L yes and and the season in general he's at 2.5 right um and Wilson contras is at 1.8 for the season it's just this little window where looking at he didn't he he just wasn't there right so so uh we'll check in again you know at the three quarter Mark and see how it's going um but right now we're neck and neck you are winning by point two yeah let's go me yeah um I won't root against you because I want these guys I just want my guys to do better than yours let's just it'd be cool if everybody did well right Nate wow you sound like a communist okay all right all right that's going to do it for this week thank you everybody we'll be back next week as always hope you have a great and safe Fourth of July think of the dogs think of the kitties yeah think of me I get afraid think of Ben get yourself some hot dogs and hamburgers and whatever you want um and watch some baseball and uh maybe a pineapple flavored whipped dessert ooh a trademark free pineapple flavored whipped dessert wow all right that'll do it thank you everybody and until next week go Cardinals see you bye [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] down