St. Louis Cardinals: Randal Grichuk and MLB Radio

On Thursday afternoon, I called MLB Radio’s Inside Pitch to talk about the St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Randal Grichuk. This was may first call and it was a humbling experience.

Thursday afternoon, I was in my car with my Sirius XM radio tuned into MLB Radio and it’s afternoon show, Inside Pitch. Hosts Jim Duquette and Eduardo Perez were talking about the one-year $2.6 million dollar contract the St. Louis Cardinals had just agreed to with Randal Grichuk to avoid arbitration.

I was particularly interested in that subject since the day before Redbird Rants had put up my piece promoting Randal Grichuk for the fourth outfield spot in the St. Louis Cardinals lineup. My colleague, Larry Levine had put up a counter piece promoting Harrison Bader as the fourth outfielder.

Duquette and Perez were both singing Grichuk’s praises. Perez in particular seemed to be defending Grichuk and what a high ceiling he has as a player.

Inspired, I decided to call in and try to get on the air with Duquette and Perez. After a short wait, their producer picked up and asked me what I wanted to talk about.

I told him I was a St. Louis Cardinals fan and I wanted to talk about Randal Grichuk and his new contract. The producer told me to hold and he would put me on the air shortly.

Waiting, I started planning what I would say and how I would make my case about Randal Grichuk. I imagined that Duquette and Perez would be in full agreement with me and sing my praises on air.

I also thought I would give Redbird Rants a shout-out during our conversation. Surely, I would be praised by our co-editors, Michael and Tito, for doing the shout-out. I imagined my co-writers at Redbird Rants would be impressed and congratulate me.

Looking at my radio screen and it said they would be talking Cardinals after the commercial break. Now I was really pumped.

Then I was on the air!

I heard JIm Duquette say, “Hello, Russ from Missouri, how are you doing today?” Finally, my big chance to impress the MLB radio audience and everyone at Redbird Rants.

I told Jim and Eduardo that I was great and asked how they were today. Immediately I stated my position about keeping Grichuk as the Cardinals’ fourth outfielder. Also I pointed out that he could play all three positions and had some power in his bat. I told them that prospects such as Harrison Bader could use more time at AAA and play every day.

My last point was to bring Bader up during the season either after an injury or at the trade deadline. Grichuk could then be traded for a pitcher or position player.

After stating my case, I waited for Duquette and Perez to praise my insight. Larry’s Bader theory would be mocked in front of all MLB radio listeners.

More from Redbird Rants

But then Eduardo Perez started breaking down Grichuk’s batting issues. In his opinion, Grichuk has many holes with his swing. He pointed out so many, I forgot them all. When Perez was done with me, then Jim Duquette took over.

Duquette said it would be a mistake to have Grichuk as the Cardinals’ fourth outfielder. He needed to play every day to have a chance work out his issues. “Trade him now” said Duquette, and “get what you can for him.” He then stated by the trade deadline, he may not carry the same value if his “problems continue to exacerbate.”

Then the call was over.

They went to commercial break and I was off the air before I could respond. I had been thoroughly discredited on national radio! No chance to respond, no shout-out to Redbird Rants, and no high praise from my co-editors!

That’s it for me defending Randal Grichuk. From now on I will defend someone easier, such as MIke Matheny or John Mabry, or even Jonathan Broxton.

Next: Grichuk avoids arbitration

In spite of what happened, I will call MLB Radio again. It was still fun.

Home/St Louis Cardinals News