[COMT] The Katie Woo Reunion Tour: Cardinals, Dodgers, Shohei, and Pretzels

Dynasty versus rebuild, cashverse development.

Well, how do the Dodgers and Cardinals compare

besides in the standings?

Who better to let us know than the one and only Katie Woo.

Good to see you.

Thanks for coming.

Let's talk LA and Cardinals on my time.

I've been thinking about this, Mr. Han.

If I'm here and you're here,

doesn't that make it our time?

Welcome back to Cardinals on my time.

I am Scott Plaza and joining me

is the Red Bird rundown crew,

but we don't care about them.

What the big news is is from the athletic.

You know her, you love her.

You miss her, maybe just as much,

but I don't know as much as we do in St. Louis,

but Katie Woo, thank you so much for taking the time today

to talk Cardinals and Dodgers,

but before we get started,

how are you doing today?

Not knowing that the Dodgers played an afternoon game,

but we're happy that we've been able to get you on here.

Yeah, talk about a top-notch podcast being able to adjust.

We talk about baseball being a game of adjustments

while when the guest doesn't know how to read a baseball calendar

and has to all of a sudden remind herself

that she has a day game today, we reschedule.

So thank you guys again for being so accommodating

to my lack of organization.

I'm excited to talk a little baseball

between two organizations that I know allegedly well.

So we'll work it down.

Well, you were saying that you were washed up, but again,

the washed up version of Katie was better

than anything we can even pretend to be.

So we're thrilled to have you joining us today.

We have truly been missing your presence

along with the team and everybody in Cardinal Nation.

I mean, we had you and Alexa getting the well-deserved

opportunity is like back to back,

it was like let the left right punch.

And then we had John Denton as well, having to let go.

So enough of our sorrows though, we'll get over it.

How do you respond to those?

We want to put you on the hot seat right away

that people say Katie Wu has gone to Hollywood on us.

Do you guys see what I look like right now?

That is what I would say.

You see what I look like?

I don't think I'm going to beat the two Hollywood allegations.

But maybe I'll spice it up when I go back

to Bush JDM on Friday.

But no, definitely not two Hollywood.

I will say the only like super LA thing about me

is the way that I drive.

I have no regard for other people in that traffic.

I'm sorry, sorry, I'm safe,

but like I'm going to go in front of you.

That's about as LA as I get.

I'm still adjusting.

Okay, well, watch out everyone in LA.

I heard the roads are there, you know,

pretty safe there anyway, you know, no traffic

or anything.

So no problems.

But I'm sure you're doing well, especially in the teams,

you know, sitting at the top of the standings,

even though I did see people on Twitter being like,

oh my gosh, back-to-back bowl pen blow-ups

while sitting at 20 and 11 at the top of the standings.

While we're fighting random tornadoes, snowstorms,

but the supposed to be rebuilding cardinals

are four games over 500.

So Katie said, you leave and then they figure it all out.

So how has it been while seeing the cardinals

in the middle of this 17 game stretch still killing it

and kind of being the talk around national media

around the cardinals and NL Central?

Look, if, if me, Libyan St. Louis was the missing key

in this to the cardinals, you know,

performing well, playing good, fun baseball,

like that is a sacrifice.

I'm willing to make on behalf of the BFIBs.

So, but no, it is exciting.

And I still check in on the team every now and then.

Of course, I have a lot of friends

that are still in the organization

and then doing some prep watching the pirate series.

What strikes me about this cardinals team

is the way that they're playing baseball.

This is a team that essentially all of national media

said, they're rebuilding.

They're not gonna be good for two, three years.

Where are the superstars are trading everyone away?

They're not gonna be very good.

And I think this young team,

which they talked a lot about trying to create

their own identity and their own brand of baseball,

has so far done exactly that.

And this is not a perfect team.

I'm not gonna go out here and say the cardinals aren't flawed.

We are aware of the bullpen.

The offense isn't gonna blow doors necessarily off

of the opposing pitching staff,

but they are very gritty.

They are very resilient.

And the whole purpose of,

and the whole goal of this cardinals team

was to be a team that other teams are exhausted after playing.

And a combination of that mentality

and a lot of these young players coming up

and not having any pressure on their shoulders,

I think has allowed them to start making their own identity.

And it's led to just really fun, enjoyable cardinals baseball.

And I think that's been missing in this town

for quite some time.

Well, we're gonna jump on to YouTube really quick

and say anybody that we're gonna put a poll

and say, would you rather have Katie Wu

or the cardinals winning the division this year?

I don't know.

We'll have to check in.

That might be one that stops and makes them think

for a minute.

But we are getting the excitement here

with the young green cardinals

that are definitely exhausting some teams.

I mean, they're running all over the pirates.

So let's get started with part of that young green crew

with Jordan Walker.

How cool has it been to see what he has done

for this first month of the season?

I love it.

And I think of all players

currently on this cardinals roster,

Jordan Walker had the most unfair shake early in his career.

I wrote about it extensively.

When I was in St. Louis, I believe it now.

What I love is that he is one of those players,

I think from the outside perspective looking in

that has really agreed to shed everything that happened

before this season and say it's a new front office,

it's a new team, it's a new kind of expectation.

Let me just go out there and come in with an open mindset

and listen to these new coaches

and listen to this new player development staff

and what they're implementing.

And just go out and play baseball.

He's 23 years old.

We talk about Jordan Walker sometimes like he's 35

and washed.

He has an entire career ahead of him

and they're still gonna be growing pains, right?

You don't want them to be nearly as extreme,

maybe as eight home runs in whatever, two weeks

and then back to the same struggles.

But that's kind of what, again,

the season is about for Jordan.

So for him to be able to kind of make them a little less extreme

and find more consistency, that's ultimately the goal.

But right now, again, it goes back to these guys

playing without all of this pressure,

just being allowed to go out there and play themselves,

play loose, enjoy the game.

That's gonna benefit guys like Jordan.

And I couldn't be happier to see his earlier success.

It's a guy who really deserved it based on what happened

in his very early tenure here.

You didn't need to be so specific with a 35 and washed.

Yeah.

I was gonna say, I turned 40 next month.

Katie, this is your one and only appearance.

Jonathan, what do you want to go on here?

First of all, I just want to say Katie, your first answer,

I felt like I was listening to Ollie and Marmol

and that was so good.

I was like,

gravy, difficult to play.

Yeah.

This is the, I've heard it.

I love it.

Talk it about, no, I just wanted to take a step back

because you've come from St. Louis,

now you're in LA.

We know about the money.

We know about Shohei and all the coolness,

which I, you know, I think we'll probably ask you about him.

Shohei.

At some point, possibly.

Well, yeah, you mean in your,

she's actually in her room, but it's just a picture.

It's a picture.

Yeah, he's not actually gonna join,

which is a bummer.

Shohei, in my apartment,

then I do my own family.

So I'm gonna.

That's okay, though.

That makes total sense.

I'm doing a job right.

Yeah.

She really loves her job.

Okay, so from your perspective,

why does it feel like to me,

like the Dodgers consistently maximize their talent better

than most organizations?

Like I feel like for the Cardinals for years,

you heard about names, people come up,

they might flounder a little bit.

I am not dialed totally into the Dodgers

as you might be because you have them,

like literally in your apartment,

but like Dalton Rushing, you know, Justin Robleski,

some of these names that are seen kind of random,

but they, they tend to produce

and they have the other pieces

that just always show up.

Like the Cardinals used to,

like the random Matt Carpenter's,

these are the folks that would come up.

So could you speak to, like, what is that?

Is there something that they're doing,

or is it just luck?

What do you think that is?

I think it's very similar to when the Cardinals

were turning out, like they're,

they're 2010 dynasty-ish kind of guys.

The Dodgers are doing that second to spending money, right?

They also have a very solid,

if not the best player development system in baseball.

They are consistently investing in player development

on their farm system side,

but also at the amateur scouting level,

professional scouting level,

and internationally, and obviously,

they're international scouting in Japan.

But across the board, Latin America,

like the international draft money, bonus pools,

all of that, they are so locked in

and they spend so, they're so smart and they're spending

and how they allocate to all these different resources.

So yes, the Dodgers are spending a ton of money

in the free agent market

and they can go out and get whoever they want.

We know this, they've done a lot,

much to the Sugar and a 29 other fan bases.

But they're also very smart

and how they invest in the structure of their team.

And we've seen firsthand in St. Louis,

what happens when a team stops doing that?

If you go into this rebuild period, right?

But the Dodgers, for as much as they're going to take

about buying their dynasty,

I don't think that's a very fair shake

because yes, they are spending a lot of money.

Let's look at the New York Mets

who actually spent more than the Dodgers last year

and where they're at right now.

The Dodgers do such a good job

of doing everything right,

not just their starting nine big stars

on their active roster.

It's really down to the AAA, all the way down the low A

and then the scouting that goes into it.

I think that's why it's so frustrating for fans

because they're going to keep spending money

and they're going to keep churning in players

because they have the ability to spend

in all these different elements.

Matt, go ahead.

That's fantastic.

Yeah, so Katie, we've been nice so far,

but now it's time to hold your feet to the fire.

Yes, you left the Cardinals

and you are now covering the evil empire there at West.

Now, let me just say this,

nothing the Dodgers are doing.

You described it beautifully.

It's all according to the rules,

they're doing exactly what they should be doing.

They're maximizing every single advantage.

So if we're kind of tiptoeing up to this potential

lockout work stoppage kind of situation,

answer for the Dodgers, please.

What do you think needs to happen in baseball

just to level the playing field some?

The Dodgers can still be the smartest

but they can't be the smartest and the prettiest

and have the most money, right?

And just have all these advantages.

So in your mind, what's going to happen

because the Cardinals will have maybe a title window here,

but the Dodgers just, you know what I mean?

They've got a whole veranda of never ending open titles.

So what's going on?

What needs to happen?

The Dodgers actually believe they can be the smartest

and the prettiest and the best don't have it all.

That's good to say.

And to their point, nothing they're doing right now

is not permitted by the CBA.

Everything they're doing is perfectly allowed

in the current collective bargaining agreement.

And we can have tons of debates over salary caps

and salary force.

I have a hard time believing that either of those

will be implemented.

But there's something to be said about market size.

And I don't think it's fair to say the Pittsburgh pirates

can compete in the same market as the New York Yankees.

New York and Pittsburgh obviously much different.

But then I see, you know, Los Angeles Dodgers

and Los Angeles Angels say market different kind

of spending, you can nitpick everything, you know,

markets, teams, spending, organizations, all of that.

The point is, is 30 billionaires own these teams.

And until they find a way to really buy in and say,

we want to build the best product on the field,

not just something that's going to be profitable for us,

we're going to have these discrepancies.

I do think all of the mess that is the regional sports

networks and the television deals

is probably, we're probably understanding how important

that's going to be in the next CBA

because so many of these teams, the Cardinals included,

have money tied into their payroll

based on their, their television deals.

The Dodgers have one of the best inspection sports net LA.

That's not lost on my, on their spending, myself,

on their spending either.

But so many of these teams, as we saw with the fallout

of FANDUAL rely on the revenue of their RSN packaging

to have more payroll.

That's why teams like the Cardinals, one of many,

are slashing some payroll to combat for that.

So it's not like I can sit here and nitpick

the entire sport of baseball.

I actually think the sport of baseball right now

is in a great spot.

But we are headed towards a lockout, almost, you know,

unanimously, you asked throughout the industry.

Not one person doesn't believe that we're not going to be locked out

come December 2nd.

But it's not as simple as salary cap salary floor.

It is completely on the spending habits

and the personal desires of 30 major league owners

and getting them to come to an agreement with the players

as proven is very difficult.

God, I don't know if you heard what I heard,

but I just heard KDW call up Bill DeWitt

and say, hey, boy, let's spin it.

Yep.

Yep.

Then I'll call him DeWallet for nothing, right?

It takes money to build a farm system

as they are somehow just now finding out.

Yep.

And that's the thing that we looked at this off season

is that they traded.

They ended up trading money for prospects,

basically, is what it ended up being.

And it's working out.

And it's unfortunate that it ended up

being like losing the leadership of the veterans

that they've had.

And that's what my kind of next question was

is the leadership of the Dodgers

with kind of a relatively young roster

kind of throughout other places as well,

especially in the pitching staff,

which is on the younger side.

How has that leadership on the position players

kind of adjusted towards the young guys coming up?

But also, while in the competitive window

where like they need to be good right now

and they're not learning how to win or anything like that.

It's a completely different clubhouse than,

and not in a bad way, just different,

based on expectations, very inexperience.

And I was always told from people

who had been in the clubhouse every day

around the Dodgers much more often than I was

that there was no ego in that clubhouse

and that's something that you hear

but you don't really believe until you see it.

You walk into the Dodgers clubhouse

and there is superstar after superstar Hall of Famer

after Hall of Famer lined up starting with their manager.

And as soon as I walked in,

I did sense that there was no ego.

These are guys that come in and they are so focused

on just doing their job, which is winning baseball

and doing it at a very high level

that there's no ego in that room.

Today, Friday Freeman took questions

that Dodgers offense surprisingly given the names

hasn't really been off to a great start.

They've been scuffling a little bit

especially at the top of the order.

And there's no panic there.

There's no pressing.

It's just like, hey, we have to be better

and we know that.

And the Dodgers understanding when they're not performing well

and not making excuses and not pressing,

just saying we need to be better,

that's the culture they have.

And it starts with Shohei.

It starts with Yamamoto.

It goes down to Freddie, Mookey Betts,

like go through their lineup.

They all believe the same thing.

If we're not playing well, we have to be better.

And that's not just something that you get

in every single clubhouse,

especially like you look at other organizations

and even outside of MLB, you look at the NBA.

When you build a super team,

often there are too many egos in one room

and it starts to fracture and fall apart.

That could not be farther from the truth in Dodgerland.

It was very, I don't wanna say surprising,

but interesting to walk in there and be like,

oh, they're serious.

They really only care about winning

that third straight world series.

Yeah.

Katie, you talked about a bunch of Hall of Famers.

Did you know that the Cardinals have won?

It's Jonathan David Weatherholt.

Have you, we call him JJ.

If you haven't heard, we call him JJ Weatherholt.

That's our contribution to the Hall of Fame

if you haven't caught him recently.

Dude Rakes, he's fun to watch.

There's a lot of fun players to watch.

And that's something that I've actually enjoyed.

I talk to Chip Carey every day.

So he gives me updates about the team.

And I think something...

Did you even flex?

Holy cow.

No, it's not a flex.

I promise you, it's not a flex.

Did you hear that?

Just Chip Carey getting some jetties there.

Okay.

But when I'm watching this team,

we're following along from afar

or seeing the highlights on Twitter

because I'm on Twitter all the time,

just like the rest of you sickos.

Like watching these young players understand

who they are as ball players

and then turning that into success

that helps the entire team.

Like, look at Nathan Church.

Dude, it's a stud.

I think he just like robbed the game winning home run.

I was watching him.

He sure did.

Who the night?

He just went in the game.

Right?

Or you have like JJ figuring it out.

As a top prospect, now like a very early nationally

rookie of the year contender,

the growing pains of Jordan Walker

and Victor Scott the second.

Like Kyle Leahy,

I was so excited to see him pitch on Sunday,

but Ollie just had to do a six man rotation.

He will be hearing from me.

That kind of stuff, if I had to,

if I was a Cardinals fan because

I know you guys love your baseball so much,

I wouldn't necessarily be happy

about the expectations set out for the team.

But I would be excited to see the next building block

of what is hopefully a winning core

start to find themselves.

And that's what I think we can,

I thought it'd be a silver lining

turns out they're still winning

so there is no need for a silver lining.

But that's I think is really interesting

to watch for a fan base that knows

and appreciates baseball so much

as these players starting to figure out who they are

and their skill set and how to translate it

into winning ball games.

Yeah, so Katie, you brought up Oli Marmol

and this is a pro Oli Marmol podcast.

We appreciate what he's done.

They've, you know, they outperform

what the stats say that they should.

I was wondering though, now that you're around

Dave Roberts, day in and day out,

could you kind of,

and they're in different spots

in the franchise in different places,

but can you kind of like compare and contrast them

as leaders and like their decision-training

that type of thing?

So I've had, I've worked with a lot of managers

and there are three that stand out in how different they are,

but how respected they are.

Dave Roberts, Skip Schumacher, Oli Marmol

and all three of them are so smart

and are so eager to share how they're thinking about the game

and that as a reporter is a dream.

But when you're looking at the managerial styles

between Dave Roberts and Oli Marmol,

it's completely different

because of what's been asked for them to do.

I told Oli wasn't that when I was leaving.

I was like, my only regret is that I didn't get to really

watch you manage a high stakes playoff game,

except for the one that, you know, you didn't win.

He didn't love the way I said it, but like,

I was like,

Well, how's Lee like his turn fell off?

It's like, no, it's a little off his control.

I just wanted to get a little dig.

You sure?

But I, it's such a good question

because Oli has to manage these players as they grow,

like we just talked about.

And when you're doing that as a manager,

you have to manage playing time,

you have to manage expectations,

you have to manage team chemistry.

Like, I think a lot of people just think the manager,

sometimes not even the manager,

the front office gives the manager a line of card

and says go win.

But when you're managing a developing clubhouse,

especially the job he did last year

with veterans and playing time,

you have to also manage the egos in the room,

the growing pains, the lessons learned and the adjustments.

And you have to be really patient.

That's why I think Oli and his staff

given their player development background

is so critical to this time period that the cardinals are in.

Dave Roberts has won, you know,

the back-to-factual series,

one in 2020, Hall of Fame manager,

team full of superstars,

he doesn't have to manage the feelings of these guys.

And that's not being disparaging to the cardinals at all.

Again, completely different time periods

for the organizations.

He has to go find a way to go win as many games as possible

and but keep his guys healthy

because the Dodgers can load manage

and they should, given how late they play,

it's kind of just expected that they're going to go to October.

And still find a way to work in the rest of his bench

to keep them fresh,

but it's really a player-controlled

player-managed clubhouse

where Dave Roberts' responsibility is to go out there

and help put the best night on there to win the game.

So it's completely different,

but the way that they manage

is actually very similar.

I remember a series between the Cardinals

and the Dodgers last year in LA.

And I was talking to both managers

about what they were seeing

and combating each move,

who had who on the bench,

what reliever was feeling good.

They were like neck and neck

in terms of how they were like playing back the matchups.

And I was sitting in the middle

being like, both teams should have won

with the way that you guys were thinking,

both teams should have won.

So that's interesting too.

You talk about the expectations in that

where it's a veteran-led clubhouse versus,

it's maybe leadership by committee over in St. Louis,

but how do you see them?

Do they pay attention to the expectations

before the season?

Is there such thing as bulletin board material

and major league baseball over 162 game season?

I feel like that would just kind of get exhausting

after a while to try to be motivated

by the haters, like that.

You know, as someone who is continuously motivated

by the haters.

But no, there are, I think again,

these are two clubhouses that understand where they're at.

The Dodgers are their public enemy number one.

They literally played bad dive at Billy Eilish

before every game.

Love it.

Love that.

Love that.

And the Cardinals are like,

hey, you know what, everyone thinks we're gonna suck.

So let's go out and play some really good baseball

on just an R way and see how it goes.

We have nothing to lose where the Dodgers feel like,

if they don't win the World Series, they've lost everything.

So I wouldn't call it bulletin board material,

but these guys are certainly aware

of what's being said about them.

And I think both clubhouses are a good job

of not letting the outside noise infiltrate in,

but still at the end of the day,

a little despite doesn't hurt every now and now.

Yeah.

I wonder too, Katie, because you're talking about,

I mean, obviously a lot of the contrasting stuff

between the Cardinals and the Dodgers is how this is working,

but I know for years growing up in the Midwest,

and you travel other places when we were really dominant

in competing for World Series, you'd see some fans

that would see us wearing Cardinal stuff and like,

Oh, God, where are you here?

You know, like frustrated with us.

Now that we've kind of taken this little downturn here,

what do you think the perception of St. Louis's

just around baseball in general, maybe out in LA now?

Is it kind of, we're just irrelevant?

Like we don't really matter anymore.

Is it, well, that's a sleeping giant.

It's, oh, they're gonna have some devil magic.

Like what is it?

Cause we're in the middle of it,

and it's hard to take the blinders off

when you're so dang close.

I think a little bit is just kind of the,

the unfortunate result of being a Midwest team

where if you're not like first place in your division,

like, and even then, like think about how many times

the brewers were in first place, and people were like,

okay, the Cardinals are, they're a brand, right?

They're a recognizable brand.

They're one of the most historic franchises in baseball,

and they are irrelevant right now in the grand scheme of things.

I don't want to take away what they're doing

then all central in general, like, again, everything I leave

gets better, but I think they get the benefit of the doubt

because of their history where, okay, the Cardinals are,

you know, they're rebuilding or they're in a down period,

but it maybe might not be as long before they're good again.

And I think that is fair.

I think they've earned that,

especially with how transparent, high in bloom

and his new front office have been

with the fan base, I'm sure we'll get into that.

But I think the outside perception is like,

if you're not the Dodgers, the Yankees,

like everybody hates those teams,

and then it's like, oh, you know,

what's happening to the Metz and the Phillies

and the Red Sox, and then everybody else is irrelevant.

And we'll see how that changes over the course of the season.

But I do think when people are thinking nationally

about the Cardinals, it's, okay,

let's give them a couple of years,

but it's St. Louis.

So it's only gonna be a matter of time before they're back up.

Well, let's just talk about high in bloom then.

So you are around like the premium A number one,

you know, prettiest, best Ferrari lead front office in baseball.

And maybe this question is not entirely fair

because, you know, it's been the transition to bloom here.

Just based on what you saw, is bloom like,

are we tracking the right way front office wise?

Is the capacity there to match what the Dodgers do?

Are they just dealing with a different stratosphere of budget?

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, that's a fair question.

And yes, they are dealing with a different stratosphere of budgets.

But I understand the, what's going on behind that question?

Andrew Friedman is the top executive in baseball

at the Dodgers president-based operations.

For reason, his journal manager, Brandon Gomes,

also very good.

High in bloom, Eric Neander, all of those guys

came, Jerry DePoto, from the Tampa Bay branch.

And Tampa Bay has always been ahead of the times

in what they're doing analytically, player development,

finding sheet players.

They're a very, very small market

and a very, very big division

and still, you know, pretty successful

over the last 10 years or so.

So you have the right brain trust.

If you're under that Andrew Friedman tree,

you're genuinely thought of as pretty high up

within the industry standards.

And I think high in bloom is the perfect balance of tradition

and also being open and promoting analytics

and the new wave of baseball.

I'm a baseball traditionalist, right?

Like I believe in scouts on the ground

and all of the scouting reports going out amateur internationally.

I don't think anything can substitute

from person in person evaluations.

But that's not to say that there's not a place in this game

for the modern analytics.

And that's where I think I'm really shines

because I think he understands both of those components.

And the Cardinals have done the traditional way very well.

The modern way, not so much, but they're getting there.

And that's exactly what this organization needs.

I think the worst thing you could have said

as a Cardinals employee, front office, staff member,

over, you know, why wasn't the team doing something?

The answer would be, well, we've always done it this way.

That's the worst answer you can give,

no matter what your role is in an organization

because baseball is rapidly changing

and rapidly evolving.

I think Hayme gets that.

He also understands the importance

of communicating with this fan base.

He's had two very passionate fan bases.

Now Cardinals fans, maybe a little less aggressive

than Red Sox fans, but very much,

they very much know when they're not being told

what's going on or they're not being,

they feel like things are being transparent.

I think Hayme went out there,

told them exactly how it was going to go

from day one of his press conference.

And then more importantly,

did exactly what he said he was going to do.

Even if that meant trading in Brendan Donovan,

even if that meant, you know,

punching away Wilson Contreras,

even though, you know, at the beginning of the offseason,

we thought that maybe it wasn't a possibility.

So all these things are trending in the right direction.

My long-winded answer of saying,

I do think Hayme Bloom is the right person,

the right place for this job,

and it also helps to see like who he's close to,

his mentors in this industry,

Andrew Fuman and Brandon Goames

are some of the top and baseball.

You mentioned being a Twitter sicko a little bit earlier.

And unfortunately, that's part of the reality

of what we have to do.

But luckily, that's kind of how we got connected here.

So I guess it has,

it's good that goes along with its many flaws.

But you mentioned like the fan base.

How do you see,

I know that's a tough question to ask

because you get the best in the worst.

But the fan base when you go from the tradition

like you're talking about to like this,

just absolute run of success

with the Dodgers are on like if they lose one game,

you said, is it the end of the world in LA

like in St. Louis?

It's like, well, we're supposed to lose,

but we really want to win too, you know?

Yeah, it's, I'm still learning the fan base.

And it took me a while to learn Cardinal Spans too.

That's why the first year for be writing no matter

how long you've been doing this is kind of a wash

because it's a lot of trial and error.

I will say, I will always be so thankful

for my five years in St. Louis

because of Cardinal Spans.

Because as reporters,

we talk a lot about building the trust

within an organization,

building trust with players, coaches, staff, the front office.

But it's equally as important to build trust

with the fan base because if they don't demue relevant

or they don't demue credible, it really doesn't matter.

And Cardinal Spans were so gracious.

And I would go and I'd scroll through Twitter

and we'd see some rumors out there

and every now and then I'd see,

well, Katie hasn't reported this,

so I'm not sure if it was true.

And that is like the highest compliment

you can get as a beat writer

is if the general public is willing to trust you.

Like I couldn't even get the game time

for my own game to be correct.

And you're willing to trust me with music

by your baseball team?

Like that's not lost on me at all.

So I hope to earn that same kind of trust

with Dodger Spans.

But I do miss the daily interactions.

I don't even like look at the lineups that I post anymore

because no one's correcting them from a year yelling them.

I was just getting ready to ask you,

but what about the lineup tweets?

Is that okay?

What are they going to be mad about?

All right.

Right.

First ballot hall of fame earth,

third ballot hall of fame earth.

Right.

So it's different, not in a bad way.

I'm learning Dodger Spans and they're like triggers

just like I was learning Cardinals fans and their triggers.

But to be able to do this for two fan bases

at two very, very historic franchises is again,

not lost on me at all.

Yeah, they're actually building a statue

of you outside of Bush.

So when you get back, you'll see it.

You'll see it.

I mean, I've had a couple players in LA

over the series asked me like,

are you excited for your red carpet?

Yes.

You know, Stan Yadi Katie, we got it.

We know.

No, you can never get there.

All I care about is going to the press box,

saying something very rude to Jeff Jones

as I do every day.

I love him.

So, and grabbing a pretzel from the press box,

I miss those so much.

They are the best pretzels in baseball.

But I am skinnier because they're no longer

in my daily routine.

So, oh, man, I've gone off in.

You've gone all California.

Welcome back to the Midwest of.

I know.

I need real food when it's around that.

That's right.

That's right.

So I have gone, what is it?

29 minutes and been looking at show hay

over your right shoulder.

It's time for a dang show hay question for me.

Okay.

Just on the start, what is it like to cover

like the Beatles for baseball?

Like he's just, it's unbelievable.

Like my wife sort of follows baseball

and she's like, did you see what show hay did?

I'm like, I did.

But it's cute that you want to see as well.

So what is that like for you?

Like coming from St. Louis

where no offense to Paul Goldschmidt

or Nolan Arnata or even Miles Michaelis, right?

Although you could compare the two and I'm just kidding.

What is it like to cover show hay?

Like is it just, does it blow your mind a little bit still?

It does.

It does only because it, I don't think

well, we're seeing anything like this again.

I mean, he's, he's been something.

Crazy. I know.

But he homework against the Cubs on Sunday

and I had the Otoni sound, which is unique.

And you, you don't hear another human make that sound

based on contact with the baseball.

And every time he's up to the point,

it's just much, it's must watch TV.

I had to miss an Otoni star yesterday.

I went to a rehab assignment for Blake Snow.

And I was mad.

I was mad.

And no offense of Blake Snow, of course, obviously not.

But it's like, show he's on the bump.

I got to miss that.

As, you know, an impartial objective journalist,

you know, I think there's a lot to break down

on his two-way usage, the low of management,

the six-man rotation, the dodgers are doing.

As a baseball fan at heart, why wouldn't I want to see

as much show he Otoni as possible?

It's, he's also a pro.

Like, you know, he's not gonna go out and talk

every single day, but he answers his media questions

after every five days.

He understands the responsibility he has

is like the face of baseball, the global face of baseball.

And that he's so pleasant and knows people's names

and, you know, is around.

I think that's pretty cool.

It goes back to the whole, like, nothing.

Did, did you, your first day come in

with like the hottest taking Japanese

and hit it with them and just really go for it?

Or did you, you know, just peel it back

and you were like, let me just talk to the interpreter

and do it the nice way?

So I actually, I think I like blacked out my first day

of dodgers that I don't own or anything.

I don't remember anything about spring training.

It was so much.

I walked in and I still am in the Cardinals Writers group chat.

Hilarious group chat, by the way.

Fueled, of course, by Jeff Jones.

And their spring training started a little bit earlier.

And I just remember it would be in like my first day,

like I wish I was cracking jokes with those guys

in their new media room.

We had to sit on these rusty plastic.

Yeah, everything really does get better.

It's unreal.

Oh, I know.

And they were like, it's so nice here we have AC.

And I was like, okay, I'm going to just try not

to forget anyone's name my first week at dawn.

Oh, man.

So I wish I could tell you, but I blacked out.

So, I don't know.

It's okay. That's a good answer.

We'll just imagine you were just firing off hot takes

in Jeff.

I'm just always on my game as we all know.

It is nice.

If you're a tiny though, if you're struggling offensively

and you can just run an under one ERA,

it's just kind of a good backup plan.

And the OPS is still like 850.

But like, yeah, he's having a bad start to the year.

Well, speaking of OPS is in the 850s.

Let's talk JJ weather hole.

And I think this is just going to be you

as an outside media observer.

I think Cardinals fans would probably sign in blood

if they could get an extension for JJ weather hole

at this point.

In your mind with your experience,

what is it that you think is holding that up?

Historically, I know they've talked about it.

They've talked about it pretty extensively.

I think back in the first couple weeks of the regular season

when you've had all of those like big contract deals

going out with the prospects,

the Connor Griffin kind of deals.

But what's holding them back is that they've historically

ownership hasn't really done this.

Like you have to think back to Albert Poole's 2004

where they signed a substantial buy out

the R of years contract.

Like, yes, pulled the young in a way.

But that was what, six years, 26 million,

not the like eight years 90-ish,

I'm spit-balling off the top of my head for JJ weather hole.

And that's kind of always been ownership's MO.

And Hyme is in a tough place right now

because it's a new ownership group.

He had, and credit to the owners

for actually giving him the financial flexibility.

They did not give John Mosellox to get these trades done.

All right, they basically are paying

our other teams to take players away.

That's not something they've ever done really.

And if MO had that flexibility,

I think we have, we'd have a different take

on the R and out of situation.

Totally agree.

But going forward, like Hyme's already had to make

a bunch of deals with spending from ownership

that they haven't done before.

We know this, they've been investing

in the minor league system now for two years.

They've completely revamped it.

The spring training site finally looks so much better.

And now he has to thread this needle

of, I want this extension done,

but ownership might not be willing to go to this far.

And how do I push them?

What's too far?

There's the figuring that out too.

So I wouldn't rule it out necessarily.

This is, this part is me speculating.

I wouldn't rule it out,

but that I would understand

if there is some hesitance there

based on the market demands.

I think maybe the Cardinals in JJ

would have had a different conversation

before Colt Emerson in Seattle went.

I think that really drove up the market maybe more

than the Cardinals that ownership

were comfortable in doing.

Andheim is, you know,

there's no need to walk down JJ right now.

You'd like, yes, there is.

Yes, there is.

But here's my point.

You'd like to because I think fans want it.

And as a front office,

asking for fans to buy in to this new wave

and the talent and the future.

As an organization,

you put your money where your mouth is

and you pledge X amount and a million of dollars

and eight, nine years to your cherished draft pick.

The fan base is going to be like,

yep, I'm in.

So I do understand that point,

but it's not a ticking time bomb necessarily.

There is no hard deadline as much as fans

might want it to be to extend JJ.

Yeah.

I was, Matt, you're talking about JJ

and I just have to think of like the mind.

I'm not though.

I mean, really?

I know.

I mean, you can't look at the guy, right?

So you were there for five years, right, Katie?

So over the five years,

I know you've talked about Walker.

Was there anybody else throughout the system

that you in watching and covering

and how close you were to it?

You were higher on than consensus?

Ooh.

Usually it was on the opposite side.

That's fair.

I, I really think Ivan Herrera

can be a true major league bat.

And I understand like a bat that you build around.

I understand that there is, he's not a perfect player.

There are some defensive questions about where he should be,

where he should be behind the plate.

Is he better to serve as a DH?

Does it limit his flexibility?

But when you're looking for pieces to build around,

Herrera is right there because the Cardinals

don't have any power in their minor league system.

It's done a great job of upgrading their pitching,

which we knew did not exist in the five years I was there.

But now they need to upgrade their power.

And you can go out and you can buy power, all right?

You can't go out and buy a whole entire pitching staff,

but you can go out there and buy a bat.

They'll be able to develop pieces to build around.

I think Herrera is that.

And that's the whole point of this, this rebuild year,

this alleged rebuild year, right?

To go out and find people to build around in your own system.

I think Yvonne Herrera, and I think the organization

also thinks this now too, is a bad they can build around.

I thought when you said rebuild,

you were going to say runway

and I was going to have to pull the crown around.

I will never say that again.

Never.

And there I was gone.

If anybody says it on the podcast, they're just shamed.

So I'm so happy we didn't have to do that.

Scott, should we ask her about the catching wars

or should we just leave her out of it?

So we're going to go ahead and keep going here.

So I'm pro Yvonne Herrera should be catching multiple days.

But I like what they're doing right now.

We're kind of been talking about is Pidgeur Pahas

playing too much type of deal.

So I'll kind of ask that.

But also when we have these types of conversations

and those are the things that you cover as well

being around the team, but also being a voice for the fans.

Like how do you cover that stuff?

While still also being such a respected clubhouse voice

where you're going to have, again, players telling you

they're rolling out the red carpet for you,

but you might have written something theoretically,

I mean, negative about them the day before

because that's just part of your job.

Well, I think one, it's a great question.

It goes to the players being understanding

of the job we have to do.

I'm never going to hope not blind side any player

that I'm covering because yes, we're objective

and we have to say what's going on

and sometimes it's not always good baseball.

But we see these people every day.

We interact with their families,

their kids, like, we're very much in the trenches together

for 200 plus days out of the year.

So if I'm going to write something about a player

and a performing, that player is going to know about it

before it hits print, right?

Or before I go out and tweet it.

There were a couple of times where I tweeted prematurely

and I got to the clubhouse and I would say,

hey, you know what, I would, I would snitch on myself.

I messed this up.

I'm not going to delete out a principle

because I put it out there, but I want to let you know

this is out here and let's talk about it going forward

because I messed this one up.

But then there'd be other times where I would say

I'm going to write this and I'm giving you an opportunity

to talk about it.

If you don't want to, I totally understand.

But if you want to explain what's going on, I'm here.

And most of the times they'd be like, I don't care.

But they do, right?

And they would appreciate like going out

and having the opportunity.

That's all people really want is the opportunity

or the awareness that it's coming out.

And sometimes I'm completely wrong

and those conversations make for better journalism.

That's, I think the toughest part about starting on a new beat

is doing that again and building up that trust

where I couldn't go out there and rip Nolan Gorman

in the first two months of knowing him

because we didn't know each other.

We had to keep talking about it.

And then the last season, I would tell him,

hey, this is what I have going on.

It hasn't been great and he would agree

and we talk about it, right?

Or you go down the list with all these players,

or an auto, same thing, contrarist.

Like it's a trust thing and it takes a long time to build

and seconds to lose.

So as a reporter, you always want to be cognizant

of how you are talking about the players that you cover

while doing it fairly.

I actually think you kind of lose respect in that clubhouse

if you're not objective and if you're like

trying away from asking the tough questions,

but you will still have to be cognizant

of the long-term effects of that relationship.

It's not a perfect science.

I'm not saying to do it perfectly,

but I do try to give everyone a heads up

when I am trying to write something negative.

Long time to build seconds to lose

is like a tattoo or a hallmark card or something.

So you're but quote, yeah, that one, that was a good one.

That was a good one.

Good, good one.

I got one more for you here.

So Matt, if you haven't picked this up,

Matt is my brother and we are doing a,

that's the top right for me, this box.

We're doing a stadium tour, not collectively,

but just separately with our families,

trying to see all the baseball stadiums.

And I was going to ask you two questions.

One, you've been to every stadium in the league, yes?

I am.

Oh, she got a look, okay.

She's asking, show, hey, behind her.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And for you short.

Okay.

So of the three, the ones that you have seen,

the 27, if my math is correct,

what has been your favorite one you've been to?

Oh, okay.

I'm going to throw it, Oracle.

You don't have to say bush.

Like that's fine.

I'm going to throw a bush and a whole dog stadium.

Okay. That was political.

But all right.

Objective, like I said, I think it's a,

it's a hard tie between Peco Park and Rigglyfields.

Oh.

And Peco is just an insane environment.

It is a beautiful block bark.

You're going to have great weather,

best concessions in baseball,

easy to get to just an awesome game day experience

like a party.

Riggly, I've only gone for Cardinals Cubs

and it never abyss the points.

It, I love the Friday, 120.

Give me the hostile crowd.

Everyone's in a good mood.

Everyone's hammered by 10 a.m.

Like these are my cool.

I love it there.

And I love the history behind the ballpark

and the fact that like it just feels like a baseball game.

So Kutu, completely different mentalities, environments.

But those two, if you're a baseball fan,

it doesn't matter who they're playing.

Like go to Peco Park and go to Rigglyfields

and just take it in there.

So they're so great.

Okay. I largely agree with everything that you said.

I think Peco Park is wild.

It's so cool.

Like it doesn't matter what's happening

who they're playing.

It's always packed because it's San Diego.

What are you going to do?

Sit outside.

What a horrible time.

Right.

So okay.

Last question here for me,

between Bush Stadium and Dodger Stadium.

Okay.

You could probably get to Bush

depending on where you live in like 10 to 15 minutes.

Do you leave four or five hours before the game's LA?

I need to know I missed my eight minute commute

from the Central Weston so badly.

Yeah.

So badly because I chocker for a reporter

that's supposed to be on deadline.

I am never on time for anything.

And if I even 10 minutes passed

when I'm supposed to leave for work here in LA,

I am screwed.

There's no coming back for it.

I am in my first week.

I missed like 30 minutes of clubhouse time

because I had a 10 minute mishap.

And I was like, never again.

Today with our day game that I forgot about.

I got out in game ends at like five o'clock

and I'm like, joy.

It's gonna take me to my home

and it took me about an hour and a half.

So I do miss that.

I miss also like parking up a stadium is so easy.

I just dropped my stuff off, go across the street.

Shading him not so much.

Everything about watershed game is hard

but it's a great place to watch a baseball game.

It's very loud though.

That's my only complaint.

Well, and having you know national media

and you have any all those night games all the time

like, I don't know how you deal with that.

I don't sleep.

Again, the apparel should show you that.

Well, let's wrap this up here with,

let's first get positive things here

and then you might gonna be on the hot seat again,

which we're leaving it for the answer

that people are sticking here towards it

and hanging here with us.

But as you're making your return back to St. Louis,

the Katie, we were union tour kicking off.

What are you looking forward to like personally

for your just personal return?

And then what are you looking forward to

and being most excited about

to be around the Cardinals in the series

on the field we're gonna see this weekend?

I think what I'm most excited for

is just being around the people

that was the hardest thing about leaving.

I think from the outside perspective people are like,

oh yeah, Cardinals Dodgers rebuilding

back-to-back champs easy decision

and like it really wasn't.

I'm at my best friends in St. Louis.

So many people in the clubhouse on the coaching staff

still in the front office were instrumental

in helping my career take form.

I mean, I was 24 years old when the athletic was like,

sure, why not?

Questionable decision on their end.

And then gave you this job.

Suckers.

Huckers, bamboozled them.

And the people that are in this organization still

are largely responsible for helping me grow as a professional

and I don't take that for granted at all.

So being able to come back and see these people that,

you know, I felt like I grew up with as a professional

and you know, learned a lot from.

But I still talk to you almost every day.

That will be exciting.

And again, like my friends at work there.

Alexa and I leaving at the same time was hard for both of us,

but I think good for both of us

because if one of us was still here,

it'd be really hard to be there without the other.

But and for the series, I mean,

Cardinals fans, Lew, they're not seeing the big three.

So no show, hey, no Yamamoto, no glass now.

The bad news is that the Dodgers B squad

at the rotation, the other three is good enough

to be their ones and twos.

So I'm at she in Justin Robleski, Rocky Sasaki.

Those.

Now what are you doing this right now?

What like, what are you doing?

Like, wife smells not even ready yet.

It's crazy.

Talk about your friends, Alexa.

These are good things.

And then you guys know I didn't have a lot of pitching

to go through.

So let me enjoy this.

Yeah, that's you know what?

I take it back.

You're right.

You're right.

But I am excited also to see like the growth

of some of these players.

I can't wait to see McGree be on Saturday

and see how he's doing.

He was someone that I always thought again,

like didn't really get a fair shake early on in his career.

I'm excited to see how he's taking advantage

of the opportunities watching these guys come up

in their careers.

I was thrilled for Libby to be named the opening day starter

remembering how when he was drafted and coming up,

I remember when he debuted being able to,

it's a privilege to watch these players careers

start in the minors and try to help them as much as I can

and help them adjust to media land

because it's scary place sometimes.

That I'm also excited to see that.

But again, I think the number one thing

is the pretzel on the press box.

So all right.

So you're told that's how much you missed us.

So everybody go in and like the video for Katie Wu

sucking up to us because right now you might not

after this quick little and putting on the hot seat

in LA versus LA versus St. Louis, this or this or that.

So I've got six.

I'm going to try to do it kind of easier at the beginning

and then we'll see at the end.

So we'll start off with LA weather or St. Louis weather.

Weather, hammer it.

I tarp one time this weekend.

I'm going to be so mad.

I'm so angry.

All right, Pacific time versus central time.

Central is elite.

Central time is like, I actually did not realize how much

that was impacting my life in a positive way until I lost it.

Well, are you a football fan because the watching 10 a.m.

and like noon football on Sundays is pretty good to be able

to watch Sunday night football and go to bed by eight, too.

Yes, that is great.

But my workday starting at 6 a.m. is not great.

OK, fine, that's fair.

All right, let's get a little bit spicier here.

Let's go to the Dodger dog versus.

And I had originally had the bacon wrapped hot dog,

but I'm going to put the Bush Stadium pretzel up there.

So Dodger dog or the Bush Stadium pretzel?

OK, I actually don't like Dodger dogs.

I'm sorry, Dodger fans, but I like Emo's either.

So like it's a wash.

I don't either.

So it's OK.

So anyway, if I was like on death row,

I would ask for a Bush Stadium pretzel.

So OK, so what's up with it?

Is it like, what is it that makes it so elite?

It's free.

Oh, easy enough.

Free food.

Just right to the soul.

Got it.

I'm going to bail you with some juicy food and see if that makes

your list.

Yes, please.

Katie Wu was looking for a sponsor, Bush Stadium pretzels.

Now, is it only for the press box?

Or is this the one that us like muggles can get as well?

I think it's the same.

I think it's the same.

One of the press box are made with love.

I know it.

OK.

OK.

All right.

Let's see.

I got three more here.

Dodger blue or cardinal red?

Yeah, that's tough.

That is tough.

For you, it is.

Oh no, because I'm now thinking about the uniforms

and they're both two classic uniforms.

I personally think red looks better on me.

Oh, OK.

Cardinal red.

Lock it in.

Why?

Equally is good.

5050.

Wow, lame.

All right.

OK.

Hollywood sign versus the arch.

The arch.

Do you know how many times I had to go in the arch?

Because my friends would come visit from California

and be like, what's going in the arch?

I'd be like, OK.

You're in the rusty elevator going up, but yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

I actually have a picture from the top of the arch

on my fridge.

Right next to another show, hey, picture, go figure.

Yeah.

All right.

Here's the very last one.

We will see what we'll feel about this.

Dodger Stadium or Bush Stadium?

Dodger Stadium for sunset views.

Bush Stadium for like, easeability.

Getting into Dodger Stadium is on the top of, like,

I don't even know what the right geography term is.

It's logistically a nightmare.

But I love the history of Dodger Stadium.

I, it's one of baseball, like, cathedrals.

I'm going to, I'm going to go Dodger Stadium by, like, that much.

OK, so unfortunately, everyone listening at home, Katie's

internet went off right after she chose the arch.

So it was great having her here before she, yeah.

She definitely chose Bush Stadium in case you missed that.

But welcome back on.

Yeah, with the internet's backs.

So we want to thank you so much, Katie, for, we'll adjust

any time to, if whenever next time you forget, forget the schedule.

No, this actually worked out better for everyone.

We just had to explain to our jobs why we still

took a personal day and my substitute that filled my class

and everything.

But it was totally worth it.

Hey, and you know what?

It just means you have a day to treat yourself now.

So yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

How do you get a Bush Stadium pretzel for sure?

Right.

You all those good Bush Stadium pretzels.

So before let you go, is there anything else that we

are looking, we should be looking forward to from the Dodgers

this weekend.

I know we've been Cardinals heavy because this Cardinals podcast

that we had to clarify in the room as well that this is a Cardinals

podcast.

So anything that we should be looking for before this three game

series?

No, you know, like I said, the dodge a bullet with the pitching,

but it's don't worry, it's still pretty good.

The offense has been struggling.

Hopefully Kyle Tucker just now getting off the Schneid.

That was a term that I recently remembered in Griffin.

And the other guys, you know, Fred Freeman said it today,

like just not clicking.

Well, maybe that carries into the weekend.

Well, we got Libby McGreeby, Dustin May.

Old friend Dustin May for the Dodgers.

It should be a fun series.

I'm very much looking forward to being back in St. Louis.

Well, I believe Dustin May wearing number three

is pitching on May the 3rd because of the Hunter Dobbins

moving up on Thursday.

So sorry that you selfishly didn't get to see that.

But now freaking Lady next time.

Well, once again, Katie, this is awesome.

Thank you so much.

We're helping that you have a great travel back and enjoy your time

back in St. Louis.

We truly miss you in your presence.

So we're going to keep bothering you and checking in.

So it was great having you on.

Everybody listening at home.

Thank you very much.

This was Cardinals on my time.

Thanks for hanging in.