Cardinals 90-second survey: Alarms, walk-offs and who’s banned from the grill
The approach has been sharpened over the years to its most direct form: “Hey, do you have 90 seconds for some spring training nonsense?”
Most often, the answer is yes, and from there come the answers they can’t believe they’re being asked to give. The annual spring survey rarely reveals stark truths, but often reveals some that are entertaining.
This year’s St. Louis Cardinals who participated: Jimmy Crooks, Richard Fitts, Lars Nootbaar, JoJo Romero, Chris Roycroft and Masyn Winn.
What time is your first alarm in the morning, and how many does it take to get you out of bed?
Crooks: “6:05 is my first one and I set three, five minutes apart. Usually wake up on the first one. I live like seven, eight minutes away. That’s enough time for me to just wake up, take a shower and get here.”
Romero: “First alarm is 6:25. And then I have a second one at 6:35, so I give myself like a ten minute window to lay there, wake up. And then I have a third one at 6:45 to, like, leave, actually get up, walk out of the house.”
Winn: “Six o’clock, 6:15 and 6:25, so three.”
Do you always hear the 6:25?
Winn: “Always.”
Roycroft: “6:45. Just one, and I don’t play any games. Just get up, cold shower and go.”
Nootbaar: “6:25. I set two. Always get up before the first one, try to go outside and touch grass, and then when the second one hits, I go inside, take a shower.”
Fitts: “Two alarms. I’ve been going six o’clock, 6:05.”
What’s your favorite baseball highlight of all time?
Fitts: “Freshman year of college [at Auburn University], regional game, we were losing to Georgia Tech at Georgia Tech, and Steven Williams, one of our guys, kind of a power hitter guy, we were down in the final inning and he hits a walk-off homer, and it was absolutely sick.”
Roycroft: “That’s a tough one. Obviously playing at Wrigley is really exciting [Roycroft is from a Chicago suburb], and I haven’t pitched well there yet, but the debut always stands out.”
Winn: “In 2017 when Bregman walked it off against the Dodgers [in the World Series]. That game was super sick.”
Nootbaar: “When I was 11 years old, I was on the El Segundo A’s, and we were coming back from the losers bracket in the playoffs. Lost to the Mets in the first round, came back, played them in the championship. We had a seven-run sixth inning and came back and beat them, and the next day, went out and smoked them. Big underdogs in that one. It was like 1980s Miracle on Ice stuff.”
Crooks: “I think a recent one is when Ohtani went yard three times [in the NLCS]. That was kinda sick.”
Romero: “Oh, easy. Barry Bonds and Eric Gagne, they talked at the All-Star Game, and they said if they faced each other, and it wasn’t a game on the line situation, it was one off speed and everything else was fastballs. [Gagne] was throwing 100, nasty stuff. One of the most intense and craziest at bats from a hitter-pitcher standpoint.”
Who led the Cardinals in RBI [Willson Contreras] and ERA, minimum 50 innings, [Matt Svanson] last season?
Romero: “Every part of me wants to say Iván [Herrera], because every time he was up he knocked everyone in, but Burly [Alec Burleson]? Did Svanson have 50 innings? OK, yeah.”
Winn: “Burly.”
BND: Willy.
Winn: “Willy! Damn it. [Riley] O’Brien didn’t have 50, did he? Is it a pen guy?”
BND: Svanson.
Winn: “Svanson! Daaaaamn.”
Crooks: “Oh man. Burleson, right?”
BND: Willson.
Crooks: “Willson, OK. And then ERA had to be a relief pitcher. Either Svanson or…JoJo?”
BND: It was Svanson.
Fitts: “Burly?”
BND: Willson Contreras, but Burly’s most among the guys who are still here, so that’s still pretty good.
Fitts: “I don’t know how many [innings] Svanson had.”
Nootbaar: “Burly?”
BND: Willson.
Nootbaar: “Svanson?”
BND: It was Svanson.
Roycroft: “Is he on the team still?”
BND: He is not.
Roycroft: “Ok, so it was [Brendan] Donovan.”
BND: It was Willson.
Roycroft: “Oh, Willson! And Svanson.”
If you had to pick a teammate to introduce you at an awards banquet, who would you choose?
Roycroft: “Lars, because he’s standing there, and he’s very charismatic.”
Fitts: “Somebody that knows me, but kind of brings the energy, right?”
BND: I’m looking at Hunter [Dobbins] out of the corner of my eye.
Fitts: “He would be a good pick. He’s known me for a couple years, that’s a good one. But I don’t know if he’s bringing the energy either, you know? Most people say we look alike a little bit. So I don’t know if people would be like, hey, it’s Richard Fitts introducing himself.”
Nootbaar: “Probably Pedro [Pagés]. He doesn’t have a good speaking voice, but he’s my boy and I was in his wedding this offseason.”
Winn: “Probably Nootbaar. He’s got a good voice, and then he’d make a joke with it.”
Romero: “Pedro. Just thinking for awards, it’s something baseball related, that’s somebody I throw to all the time. He kind of knows everything about me when I’m pitching.”
Crooks: “Let Burly do it. We’ve got a good connection over here, we’re locker mates, he gives me some crap.”
If you were having a barbecue at your house, who would you most and least trust to run the grill?
Crooks: “Best guy, I would say my buddy Brody Moore. I live with him, runs a good barbecue. Worst guy would have to be Max [Rajcic]. I don’t think he cooks any meat on the grill.”
Roycroft: “You would ask me a barbecue question.”
BND: Chris’s parents run a barbecue food truck.
Roycroft: “Can I choose myself? I choose myself. I’m gonna throw Fern [Ryan Fernandez] under the bus. He doesn’t cook.”
Fitts: “You might get me in trouble with this answer. I don’t know. I might go crazy here and say that I wouldn’t trust…”
BND: You can get a new-guy pass.
Fitts: “I can get a new guy pass? I’ll take the new guy pass.”
Nootbaar: “[Nathan] Church least. Church and [Andre] Pallante least. And Herrera. Saggy [Thomas Saggese], another one. [Jordan] Walker, no. Those are the nos right there. Actually, take Pallante off. The most honestly might be Pallante. He’s a cook. He takes pride in that, so saying him first is messed up, because it’s the complete opposite.”
Winn: “I trust Pedro to watch the grill. I don’t trust JWalk to watch the grill.”
BND: You ever eat anything he’s cooked?
Winn: “No. I don’t want to either.”
Romero: “Pallante least trust [enormous laugh]. I haven’t heard of many people cooking or barbecuing or anything. I’m sure if you ask a lot of guys who were here last year, [Pallante] will be the consensus. He cooks all the time and he’s great. Just a few fun little stories. Honestly, he is probably the person I would most trust and least trust. He gets both sides.”
