B-Schaeff Daily: St. Louis Cardinals Talk, Every Day

Brenden Schaeffer discusses whether the significantly backloaded nature of the new Sonny Gray contract means the St. Louis Cardinals are looking to make additional splashes this winter as a result of the added payroll flexibility. Could Yamamoto be in the cards, after all? Or would this added flexibility more likely provide the platform for a trade of a high-dollar, short-term asset like Tyler Gla...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses whether the Sonny Gray signing is a good one for the St. Louis Cardinals--and whether his signing is the last meaningful addition to the Cards starting rotation for 2024. John Mozeliak, after all, said he wanted 3 starters. He got 3 starters. But how much room is there now for luxury, for creativity as the Cardinals look to bolster their roster for a genuine run as a co...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the St. Louis Cardinals off-season strategy as it unfolds with the signings of Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson this week. Is there an angle that suggests that the Cardinals locking up innings-eaters at the bottom of their rotation could make the team more likely to pursue an elite-tier starter like Yoshinobu Yamamoto or Blake Snell to satisfy the need at the top of the rotat...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the St. Louis Cardinals' decisions to non-tender pitchers Dakota Hudson and Jake Woodford along with Andrew Knizner and Juan Yepez. Why did the Cardinals cut Knizner after he was viewed as an important piece who took a step forward offensively last year? And what about Yepez, who was not even eligible for arbitration yet--so he wasn't making much money at all? P...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses Monday's reports that the Cardinals are signing old friend Lance Lynn to a one-year contract for the 2024 season (with a club option for 2025). Is this a good move to kick off the off-season strategy as the Cardinals look to rebuild their rotation? Do his struggles in 2023 concern you as a fan, or do you believe a rebound season is in store? There are definitely a c...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses Yoshinobu Yamamoto and whether his friendship with Lars Nootbaar could be an element in the St. Louis Cardinals' favor when it comes to recruiting the star Japanese pitcher in free agency. Plus, are the Chicago Cubs going to sign Shohei Ohtani...? Talk about a true doomsday scenario for the MLB off-season from a Cardinals perspective. SUBSCRIBE to this channel for C...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses John Mozeliak's recent comments in which the need for three starting pitchers this off-season has slowly morphed into the notion that the St. Louis Cardinals need two starting pitchers and then 'We'll see where we're at.' What does a 'two starters and then we'll see' strategy functionally look like for St. Louis -- and is it enough to vau...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the 40-man roster moves made Tuesday by the St. Louis Cardinals as the team protected Adam Kloffenstein, Sem Robberse and Pedro Pages from the Rule 5 draft. Does the Pages move signal a catcher trade on the horizon? Plus, should the Cards have found room to protect minor-league pitching prospect Ian Bedell, who was drafted out of Mizzou in the 4th round in 2020. Now, he...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the non-tender candidates on the St. Louis Cardinals ahead of the Friday deadline. The Cardinals outrighted one player off the roster Monday, but with the 40-man roster still at 39, are there more players that we could see leave the roster this week? Is Dakota Hudson's future with the Cardinals in jeopardy? We go through the numbers and the thought processes that th...

Brenden Schaeffer sets the tone for the week as the MLB off-season calendar heats up with the Rule 5 protection deadline on Tuesday and the non-tender deadline on Friday. We start this episode with the good and pure intentions of discussing both deadlines, but we spend enough time on the Rule 5 stuff that we end up saving the bulk of the non-tender conversation for the next episode (stay tuned Mon...

Brenden Schaeffer received too many questions about it: Why don't the Cardinals sign Trevor Bauer? So, reluctantly, he decided to discuss that question here in this podcast. He is prepared to be yelled at by people on all sides of the issue, but at least after this, hopefully, people stop asking him about it. Because he's going to explain his thought process in this video. SUBSCRIBE to thi...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the hypothetical scenario that sees the St. Louis Cardinals unable or unwilling to outbid the competition -- whether it's in free agency or via trade -- to acquire the starting pitching that they need to fix the rotation in 2024. John Mozeliak was asked this week whether that would lead to the possibility that they pivot and trade away veteran players at this point....

Brenden Schaeffer dives headfirst into the top starting pitching trade targets for the St. Louis Cardinals as the team looks to reshape its pitching this winter. While we focused more heavily on free agents in recent days, we spent over an hour talking trade names. Let me know which pitchers I merely glossed over that you wish I would go back and do a deeper dive on; forgive me, I tried, but it wa...

Brenden Schaeffer tries to pin down some realistic expectations for what St. Louis Cardinals fans may see from the team in terms of free-agent signings and trades this winter. We know they have to fix the pitching. But realistically, how far will they go to make that happen? And are you disappointed by the idea that three starters may not necessarily mean three bona fide starters? SUBSCRIBE to thi...

Brenden Schaeffer breaks down the news of the Cubs signing Craig Counsell to be their new manager. See yuh, David Ross. Then we spend the majority of the episode getting into the weeds on the St. Louis Cardinals intentions for adding starting pitching. We catch up on the news from Monday at the GM Meetings as various Cardinals beat writers added to the social media discourse in a variety of ways....

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the recent salary projections for MLB free agent starting pitchers that were put together by The Athletic as we continue to ponder the question of what the St. Louis Cardinals will be able -- or willing -- to afford in their quest to fix the rotation this winter. SUBSCRIBE to this channel for Cardinals content all year long!

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the possibility of the Cardinals signing Japanese closer Yuki Matsui out of Nippon Professional Baseball. The Rakuten Golden Eagles pitcher is reportedly looking to take his talents stateside--and what's more, the Cardinals or any other MLB team would not be subject to an additional posting fee to sign this international free agent. Would it be a good move for the C...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the social media evidence that Lars Nootbaar and Nolan Arenado went to Japan to watch marquee upcoming MLB free agent Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitch in the Nippon Professional Baseball postseason. Was this a low-key recruiting trip on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals? What other moves could the Cardinals look to make on the pitching front this winter? Plus more on Yadi poten...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the new report from Martin Kilcoyne of Fox 2 in St. Louis that there is mutual interest between the St. Louis Cardinals and Yadier Molina regarding the idea that he would join the Cardinals coaching staff. We get into what role(s) could make sense for Yadi, what the implications of his inclusion might be on the rest of the coaching staff for this year and beyond, as wel...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the St. Louis Cardinals' decision to delay their standard end-of-season press conference until later in the month or perhaps even after the World Series. Is there a good reason for this move or is this just the Cardinals, Bill DeWitt and John Mozeliak looking to duck the criticism and tough questions that may come their way during such an availability? SUBSCRIBE to...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses John Mozeliak's comments on Sunday's pregame show -- Did he already walk back his comments about the St. Louis Cardinals needing three starting pitchers this offseason? It sounded like he did, to an extent. But Cards manager Oli Marmol is clear: Three starters are what is needed. We also get into the mock trade proposal for Logan Gilbert floating around Twitter....

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the final weekend of the 2023 St. Louis Cardinals season as the festivities at Busch Stadium fully revolved around Adam Wainwright. Brenden provides insight and perspective on the weekend at Busch, plus some commentary to get you ready for the eventful off-season ahead as the Cardinals attempt to fix what's gone wrong for the club, restoring the organization to prom...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses whether the St. Louis Cardinals won the Jack Flaherty trade following Tuesday's news that the Orioles had demoted Flaherty to the bullpen, at least for the time being. Although the Cardinals have not yet gotten any major contributions from the players they received in the deal, was it definitively a worthy gambit by John Mozeliak now that we know the Cards didn'...

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the St. Louis Cardinals' 1-0 win from Monday, September 18, 2023 as Adam Wainwright turned back the clock to toss seven scoreless innings and finally earn his 200th career MLB win.

Brenden Schaeffer discusses Adam Wainwright FINALLY getting to win no. 199 as the Cardinals beat the Orioles on Tuesday night, 9/12/23.