Some essential, and not-so-essential, truths about the 2021 St. Louis Cardinals
In a regular year, one of the most important parts of spring training is the team building that results from catching up with contemporaries after a long winter and strengthening the bonds which will encourage togetherness and belonging throughout the season.
This spring training is of course anything but regular, and the tents scattered across the grounds at the Cardinals’ complex in Jupiter, Florida, are one of the more visible signs of the necessary adjustments, but the work and fun of creating a team goes on undaunted.
There’s perhaps no one better at gauging the skills and attributes of those at camp than those included in that group, and so it is from a sampling of those people that some essential (and less essential) truths can be divulged.
Cardinals center fielder Harrison Bader and shortstop Paul DeJong weighed in on some of those spring quandaries, as did Fox (soon to be Bally’s) Sports Midwest sideline reporter Jim Hayes and Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak.
Which player at camp has a baseball tool which isn’t discussed frequently enough?
- Bader: Tommy Edman’s defense
- DeJong: Virtual reality hitting headsets
- Hayes: Yadier Molina’s game awareness
- Mozeliak: Molina’s baserunning
This question was the first posed to all four participants and it was the one Bader answered last, pondering on various skill sets. Eventually he settled on Edman, whose defense will be important as he replaces two-time Gold Glove winner Kolten Wong at second.
“Yadi explained to me years ago,” Hayes recalled, “he was taught early on that you have to care about the pitcher’s success more than your own.”
“Whenever I watch Yadi catch a pitcher, I see that. And I always think that, to me, that’s such an important factor in his greatness. And it doesn’t get discussed enough.”
“(Molina’s baserunning is) something that’s not beat up a lot, because it doesn’t happen a lot,” Mozeliak opined. “But his baserunning IQ is as high as anyone I’ve ever been around.”
DeJong’s answer was far afield, but he insisted it was correct, even after having the question clarified.
“I haven’t totally dove into it yet,” DeJong said expectantly. “I’ll have my own set. But yeah, it’s interesting. It was kind of like a pregame routine or scouting report tool.”
If you had to trust a player to pack your luggage for a road trip, who would you trust?
- Bader: DeJong
- DeJong: Andrew Knizner
- Hayes: Paul Goldschmidt
- Mozeliak: Tyler Webb
By DeJong’s reckoning, Knizner’s attention for detail behind the plate would carry over to an attention for detail when lining up his clothes, though he did suggest that he might call ahead with a detailed list of fashion dos and don’ts.
Attention to detail also drew Bader to DeJong, even as he saw the logic in the shortstop’s choice.
“He’s got a family,” Hayes said of Goldschmidt. “So he’s probably had to pack before from what I know about him. He’s a very responsible, team oriented guy. And I believe if I trusted, say, someone like Bader, he would intentionally leave out things like underwear as a prank.”
Mozeliak first suggested clubhouse manager Mark Walsh and Goldschmidt, but then reconsidered in the light of style concerns.
“Nice conservative style about himself, which is how I dress,” Mozeliak assessed of both himself and the lefty reliever.
Before the pandemic, when road trips allowed for restaurant visits, who had the best recommendations?
- Bader: Dexter Fowler
- DeJong: Bader
- Hayes: Tim McCarver
- Mozeliak: Barry Weinberg
Fowler, traded to Anaheim this winter, spent two seasons in Chicago, learning the ins and outs of the city. He was frequently willing to discuss the highs of the restaurant scene with reporters, so it stands to reason that he would do so with his teammates.
DeJong’s choice of Bader, though, had an ulterior motive.
“Bader’s pretty good at finding places and he’s good at calling for reservations, too,” DeJong explained, before acknowledging that the preferred solution is an online system like OpenTable. “We make him do it because he’s good at it.”
Mozeliak’s choice of Weinberg is a logical one; the team’s former head trainer recently released a book titled “Eating My Way Through The Big Leagues.” Though, as Mozeliak explained, “you never have a bad meal in the big leagues.”
Hayes said that McCarver’s years in the game made him an ideal dining companion both in quality of food and quality of conversation, though he admitted that a fancy multi-course meal consisting of small plates once sent him and play-by-play broadcaster Dan McLaughlin scrambling for a late-night pizza.
Who provides the best dugout chatter?
- Bader: Molina
- DeJong: Miles Mikolas
- Hayes: José Martínez
- Mozeliak: Stubby Clapp and Adam Wainwright
Hayes opted for a shoutout to now-Met Martínez, once seen in the dugout at Nationals Park having commandeered a yellow safety cone for use as a megaphone.
“The best has got to be Yadi,” Bader said. “He almost has a pulse sometimes. Everyone’s good as a chatter, but he has a good pulse on it, when it’s a little bit down to kind of get picked up.”
DeJong thought Mikolas’s schedule helped with his enthusiasm, explaining, “he’s just got the starting pitcher thing where when you’re not pitching, you get to yell and scream.”
Mikolas, who spent three years pitching in Japan, keeps the dugout chatter English-only.
What was the last movie you saw in theatres?
- Bader: “I have no idea. I really have no idea.”
- DeJong: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
- Hayes: “I really can’t remember.”
- Mozeliak: Avengers: Endgame (maybe)
DeJong is the resident cinephile, opting for Quentin Tarantino’s most recent film, a nominee for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2020.
Mozeliak could recall going with his college-aged son, Will, to see what he believed was the most recent entry in the Avengers franchise, though he had to be reminded which was the most recent. “It could be, like, Star Wars,” he mused. “I don’t know, I just don’t go to movie theatres.”
Hayes, with a son in elementary school, echoed the thoughts of many parents by preferring theatres with food and a comfortable chair which allows for expensive napping.
If you had to sing one karaoke song to win a contest, which would you choose?
- Bader: “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston
- DeJong: “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver
- Hayes: “Beyond The Sea” by Bobby Darin
- Mozeliak: “I couldn’t do it. I’d fail.”
DeJong was unaware of the use of his song of choice at St. Louis Blues games, but was glad to fit in with the city’s sports milieu. He also agreed that a ballad is a tough decision for any karaoke singer, which problematized Bader’s selection.
Indeed, Bader opted to belt with very little hesitation, relying on the passion and emotion in the theoretical crowd to carry him through.
Hayes’s father, Richard, was a well-known recording artist and television host who was prominent during the big band era, reaching number two on the charts in 1949 with “The Old Master Painter.” His selection, then, fits his influences.
The few notes he shared during a phone call were sufficient to make him the leader in the karaoke clubhouse.
This story was originally published March 21, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
