Highlights/tidbits of the day
Recapping day one of the 2025 Winter Warm Up. A consistent word that was being pushed by the players and staff alike was “Hunger.” Players know there’s opportunity available and players hunting for more prominant roles can smell the blood in the water. If the team intends to “shock” some people, then the most obvious pathway will be for players that we don’t necessarily anticipate being major contributors and or players who HAVE to take next steps like a Nolan Gorman or a Jordan Walker. Here are the most interesting tidbits taken away from day one interviews:
Chris Roycroft:
Chris was our first interview of the day and he said it was the first time he had hit leadoff since Sophomore year of high school so that was a fun little aside. Chris’s offseason focus has been on increasing his effectiveness on his slider and shortening the shape of it to more of a cutter than a slider.
Drew Rom:
Drew has spent the majority of his offseason down in Jupiter Florida at the team’s spring training complex trying to regain the strength in his shoulder. Drew had a minor surgery over the course of the offseason scoping out to ensure no further damage in the shoulder and will be delayed at the start of spring training by 2 weeks but anticipates being a full go from that point forward. Rom is someone who has been a little bit tricky in his delivery by changing his arm slot but is TBD on whether or not he could continue that. I asked Drew about his mindset through this past season and what he learned about himself being around baseball but not being able to participate. He said “I was tired of just watching and I hated watching guys play and not being able to compete and once I was able to start lifting, and get back in the weight room, that’s where I found I just like competition (as anyone in this sport does) and it’s how do I compete against myself and I was able to battle against myself and win those battles every single day to get better.”
John Mozeliak:
Mo said historically by this point of the offseason that the team had typically accomplished a lot in the offseason but obviously things have been very slow. The long standing question that has persisted since the time of the GM and Winter meetings is “can we move Nolan?” Mo admitted that that process has slowed how they plan to round out the roster and that this offseason has been very different but also optimistic that the offseason isn’t over. Ideally, he’d like to have closure on the Nolan saga by the time Spring Training rolls around but realizes that that’s not a guarantee. Mo affirmed that he’d like to explore some things in the bullpen before opening day and that he does have “some” bandwidth in the payroll if they find something that makes sense. Alluding to Arenado, it was his belief that the Alex Bregman market was the main drag point on progressing any further trade discussions. He also pointed to any remaining bidders that might lose on Bregman that may circle back on Nolan. The question was asked if they aren’t able to move Nolan that they would be pressed to move other pieces. Mo pushed back on that and explained he’s not keen on moving on from the depth in the rotation and said “We’ve seen in the recent past if you go into the season with only five starters, you’re short.” Mo was asked what he expected going into the meetings with all of the veterans, who hold no trade clauses, when the organization had planned to shift it’s direction heading into 2025 and he said “he didn’t have any expectations and was just open minded about what they might say.” Mo explained that if Willson or Sonny had expressed a desire to move to a new team it would have been easy to do a deal from a leverage and interest standpoint and that both were “asked about” several times throughout the offseason. Mo, speaking on the Houston deal falling through for Nolan Arenado, explained his sense was the reason Arenado was averse to the trade was because of Tucker being traded just days before and when you consider losing Tucker and Bregman in the same offseason it’s fair to question where that team is in its competitive cycle and thus chose to use his veto power. Mo said if they had brought the trade to Nolan before they traded Kyle Tucker, then he thinks the outcome would’ve been different and because of the “order of operations” that occurred that they are where they are right now. Mo expressed that his intention was to create a clean slate for his successor and the next management team. Along that same vein Mo expressed optimism that the payroll will go back up in the coming seasons and the ownership group is committed to putting a winning product on the field. The increase in minor league investment from a percentage standpoint was estimated around 25%, which is a significant increase for any organization from one season to the next, that has mostly to do with “human capital” coaches, directors, player development personnel, etc. Circling back to whether or not Mo had made any offers to free agents and he had expressed he hadn’t made any “aggressive offers” to free agents but has had plenty of conversations with players and again re-iterated his stance that Nolan had to be moved before he was able to really explore any other additions to the roster. On the topic of Roki Sasaki Mo said “we knew very early on that we weren’t going to be heavily considered and thus didn’t put a lot of energy into that pursuit.”
Victor Scott II:
Victor has spent several weeks down in Jupiter getting himself ready for the upcoming season. He has incorporated a journal and started taking vigorous notes on various aspects of the game to help become a truer student of the game. Victor has been spending a lot of time with Jon Jay and doing new and different drills to help with his first step towards a ball and his routes to the ball. A phrase Victor kept pushing was being a “hit collector” and focusing on hitting more line drives and avoiding getting under the ball. Victor has been taking a lot of things from a defensive perspective from Michael Siani and trying to go about his business and do things in a similar way including using a “baby glove.” Said it was a new challenge to the point that a baseball hit him in the mouth coming off the machine which really woke him up to how that tool could enhance his abilities.
Sonny Gray:
Sonny re-iterated his desire to stay in St. Louis, that he was happy and comfortable here, and he was adamant that he still believes in this team, the young players coming up through the system, and that he understands what the organization is trying to do and he enjoys taking on that mentor/leadership role. Winning is still a priority for him and he believes that the Cardinals can still be that. Sonny expressed his confidence in that he’s still one of the best pitchers in baseball. When asked if he was shocked or surprised by the organization’s decision to go this direction and Sonny expressed that it didn’t shock him and after being here for a season he felt, in his opinion, that it was necessary and emphasized to prevent being stuck in the middle and needing to commit to a direction whether that’s winning or rebuilding. In regard to Willson Contreras moving to 1B Sonny expressed his confidence in the athlete he is and is confident that a move to 1B will probably come with a couple bumps and some learning experiences but that he will make a successful transition.
Steven Matz:
Has enjoyed a nice quiet healthy offseason and is building up in preparation to be a starter to begin the season. Emphasized that he understands an importance to stay healthy and that he wants to make good on the final year of his deal and the investment the team made in him. Also, a congratulations as the Matz family welcomed their second child in October so that’s kept a lot of his attention this offseason.
Brendan Donovan:
Donovan expressed his excitement for the upcoming season and that his younger teammates are all hungry and ready to compete. When asked about young players moving into leadership roles he said, “It’s hard to establish an identity until you’ve been punched in the mouth.” When asked about going through the arbitration process he said that’s not his job to worry about that side of things and that the only things he can control is his preparation, his mentality, and his effort. He believes that this team has the ability to shock a lot of people and that opportunities are available to them and that a scale back in payroll doesn’t equal a scale back in talent on the team. On teammate Lars Nootbaar,he says if he stays on the field, he is one of the best players in baseball. I asked Donnie about his experience at Rickwood Field and he said that he felt that was an important moment for baseball and an important moment for the state of Alabama and felt like a fairy tale playing a big league game there. He said it was very special to be nominated for the “act of valor” award for charitable efforts done for the military.
Tink Hence:
Hence looks at being added to the 40-man roster as “just another step.” Tink also talked about having a chip on his shoulder and trying to keep finding ways to motivate and push yourself. He spoke on how everyone is excited about his changeup, but he really made an effort to improve his curveball and slider and has the confidence in his 4-pitch repertoire and is comfortable throwing any pitch at any time in any count. Tink said that changing the grip on his slider was what lead to his increased effectiveness and credited Dusty Blake and Keynan Middleton for helping him with that. He was very complimentary of Cardinals minor league player of the year Jimmy Crooks III and said he has a very bright future.
Ryan Helsley:
The interview started with Helsley talking about agreeing to a deal and avoiding arbitration and that he was grateful to have that situation resolved for the 2025 season. He said he honestly thought he would be traded this offseason given that there haven’t been any extension talks with him from the team side. Said that the team expressed that they were going to keep him this offseason unless there was a deal that was just too good to be true. When asked who he thought could step in to a replacement for Andrew Kittredge said he thought that Ryan Fernandez and Riley O’Brien were two names he specifically felt could fill that role. He also expressed that he is open to an extension with the Cardinals, but the team hasn’t expressed any mutual interest in that and that the business is a two-way street and if only one side wants it then it’s not meant to be. He went on to state that the arbitration process isn’t a fun one for players having to hear the team tell you all the reasons why you don’t deserve the money you think you do and it is important for players to fight for those pay increases so players who come after them continue to grow their earnings as well.
Jon Jay and Daniel Descalso :
Jon Jay was asked about when things in Miami started to wind down how quickly did things come together with the Cardinals and answered that once he was granted permission to speak to other teams that the Cardinals stuff happened pretty fast. Descalso said that Jon Jay is one of the smartest baseball guys he’s ever been around and has a wealth of experience and success he can lean on to help young players on the team take another step forward. Jay credited former Cardinals coach Dave McKay as a major influence on his post playing career. Speaking of former coaches, when asked about playing for Tony La Russa they both spoke highly of Tony’s preparation and felt his style made the opposing managers uncomfortable with how prepared and forward-thinking their game plans were. When asked about what it takes to perform at the highest level for the young guys coming in Descalso said “that’s why it’s not known as the try hard league, it’s the get the job done league.” When asked about Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman, Daniel Descalso said plainly “Jordan has to hit more line drives and Nolan needs to make more contact plain and simple and we know those guys have the talent and we’ve seen it and we know a guy like Nolan Gorman when he gets hot he can carry an entire offense for a week at a time.”
