Will the Cardinals Rebuild? Is Jordan Walker a Bust? Will Pallante Start in 2025? | Q&A #4

well welcome into another episode of the deal in the cards weekly Q&A episode where we answer your questions that you submitted on Twitter Youtube in our Discord and all the other places to talk about Cardinals topics that we may not address in a typical episode or that you want us to go a little bit deeper on so today's topics will range from again rebuild retool what is the offseason plan for the Cardinals specifically with certain players like an Andre pante or Paul gold Schmid what are their roles going forward and what is the Cardinal's role in responsibility and potential pitfalls within Player Development and why certain prospects hav been panned out over others we'll cover all this and more on this Q&A episode of Dean the cards hey well thanks for joining us again we've really appreciated the support on these and again as we're going through the episode comment questions below for next week you can tag us on Twitter as well we'd love to answer your questions and hop on in here I don't have specific names to the questions today I apologize for that I'm recording after the third game of the Brewers series the Cardinals pulled out the series um and I I mean I'll give a brief thought on it real quick it honestly doesn't really change my opinion of the team right now unfortunately I'd love to say that I think they're back and they're fixed but I I just think the they're GNA have to prove a lot more to me than beating the Brewers two of three one time um I do think uh one thing that's really encouraging though for Cardinal fans is Nolan ronado uh over the month of April so this is 73 at bats can't I don't know how many play plate appearances exactly but he's slashing 315 367 507 it's a 7 80 sorry 874 Ops three home runs this month 15 RB obviously he had that walk-off Grand Slam last night clutch it today I mean n Nado looks better he's I think seven outs above average this month too which is really really good for him as well I mean that's a really great defense at third base um so you like what you're seeing out aronald right now I mean if he can continue to play like this the rest of the L gives the Cardinals a little bit of Hope more so for me it may give some hope toward what could he look like in 2025 or what's his appeal as a trade candidate if that's kind of where you're leaning um yeah overall I mean the Cardinals just have three games they're be I mean they're behind three teams in the NL Wild Card race right now still think they're six games behind uh the third place team of the Braves I think I saw the other day where the if the Braves went 500 the rest of the way the Cardinals have to go like 24 and 12 the rest of the way to surpass them and that's without the Mets and the Giants playing better too I don't know it seems like a tough stretch to me at this point the pitching has kind of fallen off a little bit the rest of the offense isn't really hitting um but I mean if they can if they can keep playing like this for multiple weeks in a row it can change it but I'm just not I'm not there so um if you thought I was going to come on today and be super optimistic I'm not it's fun to see good baseball though so um I'm interested in that for sure but uh let's jump into the questions today so the first question came in the form of this in your opinion is a partial rebuild or a fullscale rebuild a better option for the Cardinals I think this is an interesting question um I think it depends on what your definition of a partial rebuild is and what your definition of a full rebuild is and then within those how much do you trust the car Cardinal current young core and their prospects that are coming up I personally don't think you need to do a full scale rebuild because in my mind again this is definition of full scale rebuild for me yours might be different but a full scale rebuild is you basically tear it to the studs you trade away everyone and you're turning you're kind of trying to look four you're at least looking four years ahead if not five six right like it takes a couple years of a tear down and a couple years of a rebuild back up and then you're back in contention I mean I it's been a down year for pretty much all of their young players at the big league level not name Mason wi and Alec Burleson but I still like a young core of Mason wi Alec burles Jordan Walker Nolan Gorman Brendan Donovan large new bar our expectations from each of those guys might need to shift and change right like coming into the season I didn't know what Mason W would be and obviously I think he's a bright star in this league I don't know if Superstar is in his future but top 12 Short Stop in baseball at some point easily top 10 short stop I think so yeah like he could be a really good player in this league maybe even more Alec burlson again I think he's someone you could trust to play for his base for you next year the corner outfields Jordan Walker is still really high on um I know it's been a disappointing year but I think he's got a lot of potential Brendan Donovan I think he's a real leader in the clubhouse I think that's really important the versatility is great down year offensively be still pretty good above League average we expect more Nolan Gorman Lars Newar where it's a little odd for me I have more confidence in Newar than I do Gorman right now but I'm not giving up on Gorman either honestly so for me I look at the Young core and that's what I name five so burison win Nar Donovan and Gorman that's five young players right there you add Wilson can to that mix you probably have Nolan AR to still at that point that's seven you've got Ivon Herrera like Victor Scott I mean I just I feel like there's guys there now are they lacking some star power for sure I'm not trying to say they've got all the guys they need what I'm saying is if you tear back some of the other things you've got a core to work with it doesn't the core doesn't have to be the stars of your team I'm saying you've got maybe a couple of the pillars but you definitely have a lot of ancillary pieces that are on arbitration or pre-arbitration numbers youve got some pitching coming up too now also I think when people say hey let's pencil in the rotation in 2026 to have tin Ken Quinn Matthews Cooper jery and like you're getting a little aggressive there because even for organizations that have five six seven eight top hitching prospects a lot of times multiple of those guys don't pan out so I love a lot of those guys right especially Matthews hence and jery but I'm not I I think it's too it just it's too risky in this game to put in pen that one of those guys is going to be even a middle of the rotation starter let alone a Frontline starter so but do I think one or two of those guys could work out along with like the trajectory of this change can team can change if a Quinn Matthews or Tink hence is like a number three number two type and someone else whether it's one of those guys or graph or mcgrey or someone is a number four or five type because you're not spending $18 million a year on a miles Michel or $13 million a year on a Lance ly to fill those roles you've got a guy making less than a million dollars a year on those roles who might be even more effective allows you spend money elsewhere do some other things um again assuming there's some leadership changes I think you've got a if it's like H Bloom someone that I kind of trust to Target the right players and maximize talent instead of wasting money we talk all the time about the Cardinals need to spend more money but in all honesty they just need to spend money better first and then also spend some more money so I turn I tend to be more partial rebuild so I call it more of a retool but I'll call it partial rebuild here where 2025 is maybe a step back but I don't think it's a step back as in you're losing a 100 games I think it's they might honestly have about the same record as they will this year but the trajectory feels so much different because instead of it feeling like a team that's patching holes and trying to make it work with a lot of veterans and trying to scrape and call into the playoffs to get back there instead it's a young bright team where it's like hey anything they do this year is gravy really it's about development it's about seeing who is the guys you're going to build around and what are the areas you need to add to and as Jordan Walker steps into his own as Nolan Gorman or Brendan Donan lar Newar Mason wi Al Burson step into their own as a JJ weather Holt starts to come up in a few years then what are the ancillary pieces or other star pieces you need to bring in to surround those guys that's kind of where I think the direction of the organization should go but also kind of depends on how systemic you think these issues are and how quickly they can change like can new leadership overhaul Player Development in a year or two years I I don't know for sure but if they can I don't think this is a super long rebuild it also depends like how confident are you that I I think I'm confident that they can get back into contention end Central soon is next year if they wanted to I mean go look at the Kansas C Royals you don't have a Bobby Wht Jr so that's a trump card they have but they had an excellent off season where you brought in a Seth Lugo and Michael Waka and others that have really helped that team Propel from a terrible team to a team that's going to make the playoffs and the Cardinals are not as bad as the Royals were last year so you take this squad and have an offseason like the Royals did you can get into a similar spot as them and they're a contender so again I don't think you need to go full scale rebuild um but I I don't blame people who think that could be a direction you go especially if you don't trust the young core but I think this young core could be a part of the next winning part part of caral baseball I just think it's in I don't know who all thinks if any of these guys could be stars and lead the team I think they at least have a lot of ancillary pieces or borderline like not like if you're looking like the Phillies maybe you have guys that can fill the Cal schwarber role or the JT Ruto role or the Nick casianos role or the Bryson stot role but do you have an Alec bone do you have a Bryce Harper do you have a Trey Turner on your team that's where it gets really questionable long term pitching side again you might have well Ranger SWS isn't a great example because he's been great this year but you might have a really good number three and you might have a good number two but do you have Zack Wheeler right like I think these are questions that are really fair about the trajectory of this club but yes I think it's more of a partial rebuild one to two year turnaround I don't think you need to tear to the studs um let's go into it's a similar question that leads into this because in a lot of ways where the Cardinals are at now is a reflection of issues that they've had currently but it's also the compounding effect of issues over the years and one of the main things is Player Development not panning out how they thought it would be so the question is at what point do you consider or typically consider a prospect to be a bust also given how many of our prospects are failing to click in St Louis do you think we're suffering from a bad batch of prospects or is it more of a of a reflection of the Cardinals and that they just can't get the best out of their own players it's hard to put a blanket statement on something like this because not every player's the same expectations shouldn't be the same of every player and I think some players do fail because they were misused and mistreated mistreated not maybe sometimes mistreated in the way you might think that may may mean but like MISD develop mishandled but other times it is a player just didn't reach their potential and it was kind of on them so I would say though it is more reflection on a deter deterioration of De Player Development within the St Louis Cardinal organization case in point you look at the early 2010s in the way that they're pumping out pitching like no other they're pumping out young bats like no other and and maybe not the r they are right now but like you have a Matt Carpenter come up right um I don't know why I'm blanking on their names right now Matt Adams was was a guy that um helped out the team Colt Wong um there were names that you could do and then they were able to go make the smart veteran Savvy moves like a Carlos beltron Lance burkman all that kind of stuff alen Craig that was the name I'm forgetting here so they've had that era where they could do stuff like that but lately it's like well the bats come up and they're actually more exciting as prospects than they are guys producing H not helpful right you the arms is nowhere near the days when you had Shelby Miller Carlos matinez Michael Waka coming up and then later on you had Alex Reyes Jack flare um obviously sent away Sandy alcar and Zach Gallen but you haven't really had one of those names in a while right you haven't really had a number five starter that often so I think it's more it's a little bit of both like I don't think the Cardinals have had the strongest of top end prospects in a while like maybe a Dylan Carlson could have become a star star here but I don't know maybe his feeling is a little bit less I think Jordan Walker is the guy who should who could become a star like a legit Superstar star type guy here so far it's not working though but again how much of that is the Cardinals development of him like well which of course I will say there's been a lot of mishandling of him lately case in point bringing him up for 10 days to be a platoon bat and send him back down super weird but like how much of it Walker you know like it just some of this stuff's hard to say but I would say in general um the first part of this question when would I consider a prospect a bust it depends on expectations right um I'm not quick to say within a year or two unless they're just so bad like Jordan Walker I guess maybe here's I can't give you specifics but I can give you types of players like Dylan Carlson as soon as last year I probably would have said was a bust Jordan Walker I'm not ready to say he's a bust yet um Nolan Gorman I'm not ready to say he's a bust yet Nolan Gorman trending more toward a disappointing Prospect than Jordan Walker is but again like you've seen sustained success for ran gor at the MLB level you've seen sustained success from Jordan Walker and when he came up in June last year to the rest of the year he was 20% above League average that's no joke from a guy who's one of the youngest players in all baseball Dolan Gorman last year besides the month of June I think it was the month of August was 30% above League average or better in every other month like he was playing like an Allstar like I just think you you've already seen guys perform like that large Nar we've seen per perform for extended stretches but then he's also not like a top prospect so is he a bus now that he's not performing or did he already outperform expectations you could probably argue the fact that he's given you the quality he has over the last few years you never expected even that from large newart so is he a bust is Brendon Donovan a bust because he's regress a little bit offensively or is it is he a really good player because or really good outcome because again you didn't think Brandon Donovan would be anything more than a bench B but it's been a key regular all this is definition so it's kind of hard to say on some of that I think it's a really good question though and it's one that people could debate back and forth for a while um but yeah it's kind it's kind of hard to give an exact there for sure but um before we keep going I want to thank one of the sponsors of our podcast and it's 314 sports cards and collectibles 314 is located at 9640 all of Bard and all of that they're open 10 to 5 Monday through Friday 9 to4 on Saturdays if you're interested in trading cards 34 buy or buying cards selling cards trading sports cards with them Pokemon cards as well 314 sports cards does it all that the new selections of packs boxes and you can get single cards of local players and stars around the league as well I definitely recommend following them on Instagram because you can find all the different stuff they have on there in terms of different individual player cards or box sets that they're currently featuring same with Pokemon cards and stuff like that so if you're interested in buying selling trading sports cards and collectibles definitely check out 314 sports cards and let them know we sent you now I want to keep going with this with another really interesting question and this is maybe a more success story of the Cardinals Player Development recently um the question was Will Andre Palante be in the Cardinals rotation next season let me just throw a couple stats at you here um before I kind of give my answer so since Andre Palante has entered the Cardinal's rotation um it was on May 29th I believe he has a 3.75 e and 3.75 FIP he thrown 69 and 2/3 Innings he started about 13 games that is the best erra and FIP on the Cardinal since he's enter the rotation he's the only guy the sub for erra since 2022 plante's made 23 starts covering 124 to a 3.85 year R 3.87 FIP I personally think you pencil in Andre Palante into your 2025 rotation at this point for a multitude of reasons in a multitude of directions you could go first of all expectations of Andre Palante should not be anything more than a backend the rotation starter the Cardinals coming to training and they're like Andre plant are number three or number two and I don't think they would do that but if they did this is I'm not advocating for that but is Andre Palante a quality number five option for you at this point I think yes you have over 20 starts of the big league level of of sample size at this point again is that large is that an insane sample size no but we're also talking about a Cardinals organization that doesn't have a ton of options right now so you kind of got to go with your best options here here's what you here so even if let's go retool first or rebuild you're not like you'd rather see what you have from Andre Palante than than signing or bringing back Lance slay and Kyle Gibson on Club options right like if you're bringing those guys back because you think you could trade them later that's one thing but like I don't I don't know about that I think you kind of go you kind of go with Andre Palante and you kind and Michael mcgrey types and Goran grao types and all those guys that you can get something out of the rest of year and see like can they contribute longterm as back of the rotation starters or even more than that so I think in that scenario Andre pante is for sure in your rotation I think of a team that is trying to contend in 2025 do you want a rotation next year which you very well could like they could go this direction of Sunny gray Eric fety Kyle Gibson Lance slnn and miles michelas and Stephen matz like is that the six-man group you want I don't think so I think at this point so sorry I had to sneeze there you think at this point you kind of pencil in the fact that you're gonna decline Lance Lind option so it goes down so then you're going gray fetty U michelas Gibson and mattz as part of your fivem man with quante is your six okay you could do that or do you raise the potential of your rotation right by trading Stephen mats by also declining maau Gibson's option now your fourman group consists of gray fety Matt or uh michelas and Plante okay michelas and Plante your back two rotation starters Eric fedy is your three oh you got rid of Gibson Lynn and mattz that's like $30 million now give or take because you might to eat some of Matt's contract but could you go nathany evaldi in the low 20 millions could you go after Max freed in mid the upper 20 millions could you I don't know go after Max Scherzer as you're number two like again I'm not necessarily saying those specific guys but I would much rather have Andre Palante as my number five and go after a true number two starter if the payroll constraints don't allow you to have like other insurance as well then to bring back more veteran arms as insurance at this point like go big if you're going to try and go for it this time I got injury pitcher injuries happens you have to have more starters than five you trust so like that's also why if they're especially the sooner they realize they're out of the race the better because you need to see what you have Michael mcgreg you need to see what you have in gor grao you need to see what you have in Adam coffin Stein this offseason you need to let Matthew libert you need to pick a DEC make a decision is either Bullpen harm or you gonna let him try for the rotation again the more you can kind of Define who these guys are and if you have like say you do trust Michael mcgrey to make 10 starts for you next year if he needs to or grph to make 12 starts for you if you need him to that changes things and then Palante doesn't need to be your backup option you could be your five so yes I think Palante is in the rotation next year no matter what direction they go with those uh next question here we got two more left for this episode appreciate you guys tuning in again if this is your first time like the uh the stream or this video helps the channel out a ton subscribe if this is your first time here comment below questions that you have as well a helps the algorithms that's helpful for us but B we want to know questions you want answered for next time as well and I also want to take a moment real quick to thank another sponsor this podcast which is SeatGeek if you use the code new news you can get $20 off a purchase your first purchase on SeatGeek of tickets and it doesn't have to be a Cardinal game it can be a concert you can go to a Bears game and watch some Caleb Williams I'm so hyped for that um St Louis FC again the St Louis Blues season starting soon they've made some really nice moves this offseason do you any of those kind of games use our code new news org concerts newon news and you can get $20 off your first purchase of $50 or more so you can go in on tickets with someone and save money get better tickets for yourself maybe Splurge a little bit here because you're getting some savings just make sure to use the code new news next time you make a purchase on sege so next question I think it's a really interesting one if Hein Bloom takes or decides to overhaul the organization or again if anyone decides to overhaul the organization next year will fans have patience for a multi-year rebuild they specify two to three years to rebuild it's a great question I think it comes to a couple different things like if two to three year rebuild involves next year like tearing it to the studs and you you're not even watching Jordan Walker Nolan Gorman large Nar types anymore you're watching mattt kerc maybe Walker's still there PES Jose fine like you're really tearing it down no I don't think Cardinal fans would have patience for that because that that I mean because that's not a two threee rebuild that's long longterm rebuild I do kind of think fans would be okay and go to the ballpark if they kind of knew they're a couple years away if there's a direction right because there's something different about right now if you if you don't believe in this Cardinal team which some people do some people don't I don't currently believe in it I did believe in it now I don't if you don't believe in the team right now it kind of feels a little directionless and it kind of feels like you're just trying to make things works you win high 80s Games or wins high 80s games again and make the playoffs and figure things out and just kind of keep hatching it like that's hard to support but if you're supporting an organization you're like hey they've got some interesting prospects coming up they got interesting young core they're sitting on some money that they're going to spend the next two offseasons or some big trades they want to make because they're trying to figure out what is the next right move what do we have before we go out and Splurge you got JJ weather Hulk coming up right you've got tin Kent Quinn Matthews Thomas a JC like that could be really interesting to people and it's it's there's a fun element I don't think I think Cardinal fans could embrace it of watching a young Club go through the highs and lows of a season where it's like man there's some tough stretches in there where they just don't look very good but instead of demoting and promoting guys because it's like oh Jordan Walker is struggling s them down because we need to win right now instead it's like okay Jordan Walker struggling but he's the everyday right fielder he's gonna be the everyday right fielder and then it's like man ail is tough oh man May was tough okay June oh wa end of June Jordan Walker's popping off oh man July Jordan Walker's really good oh the rest of the season oh he's going to be a star like Cardinal fans could get really excited I think about watching a young team kind of develop together and then adding those outside pieces to it and seeing more guys so it's like you see this young core oh now JJ weather holds a part of it he just got promoted oh tank kence is there like oh they have a top pick next year again like I think that kind of stuff could excite them but I don't think it could that excitement could last more than two years Max like I think by year three you need to start seeing them contend get back into it I do not think they can muster or stomach a four fiveyear rebuild because most four fiveyear rebuilds fans don't go to those ballparks again most of them don't have the fan support of the Cardinals anyways usually but yeah also I mean what's the ownership positioning of it like are they positioning as like man we've been bad last few years and fans haven't given us money so we're going to scale it back and we're not going to spend as much and this is why we're bad like fans are not going to like that but if it's a hey we realize that we've fallen behind the times we realize that we've messed up for some years so the best the only thing we can do is change our ways going forward which requires us taking a little bit of a step back so we can get back to where we need to be and and if fans see that it's working again I think fans could go a ballp perk people might disagree with me please let me know down below like if there's a direction if there's a Clear Vision to you as the fan of what the future is about hey 2025 2026 might not be as good for us but because of that 2027 and through 2031 are going to be our years like would you potentially go to the ballpark and tune in the games to watch a young team like that or do you tune that out let us know down below okay one final question for today I think is really interesting what is the future for the Cardinals at first base will they bring back Goldie for veteran leadership okay I'm recording this after the game on Thursday you'll see this on Friday I kind of think you started to see the seeds of what the future is at first base today where Paul Goldman's not playing against a right-handed pitcher you see Al Burson at first base team team's playing a little better with Goldie in the line up here today h well they scored 10 runs yesterday so that's not totally fair but I have more confidence with a Goldie out of the line up right now especially against right-handed pitching against left-handed pitching Goldman's actually been really good this year again running scoring position is a whole different deal but he's still quality plon bat but he can't start get right-handed pitching every day now right I think you're gonna start I I'm hopeful and I think you should start seeing down the stretch I don't know if he's going to stop playing against right-handed pitching but I think you're going to see Goldie start getting less and less starts with Al burlson playing first base they can have a different Outfield Outlook at that point especially Nolan Gorman comes back at some point because I could see him back in September call-ups or Jordan Walker comes back but yeah I think what you're seeing is the future where I think they want to see do they trust Burley at first base I think there's an outside shot luk and Baker can become that but I I don't know if they trust him there um I do think there's a potential for Luke and Baker to be the right-handed side of a first base platoon with Alec burlon I think long term you want to see Alec burlson become the guy there but right now he just can't hit against left-handed pitching so you might need a plon him there um there was a question in this and there's always a question about first base is Jordan Walker there no I do not see the Cardinals moving Jordan Walker to first base anytime soon again we just went through Jordan Walker a relearner position and he's actually like even John M just said it himself the other day and he's been pretty harsh and critique like fair to like strong critiques of Walker he said hey this offseason we told Jordan Walker work as defense he's now an average outfielder or better I'm like yeah Jordan Walker is now an average outfielder or better and that's more valuable than someone playing first base so yes Jordan Walker is going to be your right fielder moving forward in the future could he be a first baseman and third baseman maybe but no not right now I don't see that so I I get I kind of get why people ask it but I just think it's everyone around the like media around the team the Cardinals themselves like no one's saying that's going to happen so it's not it's just not going to happen um and then the question like could the they bring back Goldie for veteran leadership I mean it sounds like they're gonna explore it but should they I don't really think so and I honly don't think Goldie wants to be a part-time player but maybe he does maybe that's how badly he wants to stay in sa Lewis so um appreciate the questions this time again we'll we'll have do this again next week I think you'll probably see Sandy instead next time but really appreciate all the questions that come through make sure to check out 314 sports cards and colletible um and SeatGeek our code new news again it's the old podcast name gets you $20 off a purchase of $50 or more um we really appreciate you all and hope that um we want to see some Better Baseball even if I'm not anticipating it' be fun to watch it we'll be live again on Sunday as we always are so really appreciate all your support like And subscribe helps the channel a ton and we'll see you guys next time