Cardinals Conversations

At the 2025 Cardinals Care Winter Warm-Up, Ethan Hannaford sits down with Kyle Leahy to discuss his offseason preparation and reflections on a strong 2024 season. Leahy highlights the importance of mental strength, believing in himself, and trusting his training to succeed at the major league level. He also shares his excitement about the Cardinals' younger roster and their ability to compete despite significant changes, as well as his eagerness for spring training and the 2025 season ahead.

At the 2025 Cardinals Care Winter Warm-Up, Matt Pauley talks with Steven Matz about balancing family life and offseason preparation. Matz reflects on the joy of welcoming his second child and maintaining consistency in his training routine while spending time at home. He discusses his health, offseason regimen, and flexibility work to stay ready for the season, emphasizing his desire to be a starting pitcher while remaining open to any role. Matz also shares confidence in the team despite external negativity and excitement about the energy young players.

At the 2025 Cardinals Care Winter Warm-Up, Matt Pauley interviews Ryan Helsley about his offseason routine and preparation for the upcoming season. Helsley shares details of his training regimen, including long tossing, bullpen sessions, and building a strong foundation ahead of spring training. He reflects on the bullpen camaraderie, the importance of teamwork, and the Cardinals' commitment to him amidst trade rumors. Helsley also discusses his thoughts on unrestricted free agency, contract extensions, and the team’s high expectations despite a "reset" year. He highlights the contributions of young talents like Burleson, Masyn Winn, Nolan Gorman, and Jordan Walker, as well as bullpen depth with candidates like Ryan Fernandez and Riley O’Brien. Helsley closes by sharing his offseason timeline, training in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the strong Cardinals fanbase in his home state.

At the 2025 Cardinals Care Winter Warm-Up, Brendan Donovan sits down with Matt Pauley to reflect on his offseason and share his focus on preparation, mentality, and leadership. He discusses his goals for improving his offensive approach, regaining defensive arm strength post-surgery, and training for multiple positions. Brendan highlights the importance of outfield instincts, guided by coaches like Willie McGee, and emphasizes the growth of young players like Masyn Winn and Thomas Saggese. With optimism for the team’s potential, Brendan reaffirms his commitment to helping the Cardinals return to the postseason.

Cardinals pitching prospect Tink Hence joins Matt Pauley at Winter Warm-Up to talk about being at Winter Warm-Up, his excitement to show the fans his talent and help the Cardinals organization, his excitement to finally make his Busch Stadium debut, working back from his injury and finishing the season strong, focusing on competing and having fun and not doing too much thinking and the moments on the mound that feel the best.

Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak joins Matt Pauley at Winter Warm-Up to talk about this being an odd year with not a lot of moves being made before this big weekend, the expectations for a Nolan Arenado trade, why he wants to take a break after this season, already hearing from non-baseball companies about his future, needing to develop some hobbies after such a tasking job.

Cardinals infielder Thomas Saggese joins Matt Pauley at Winter Warm-Up to talk about coming back after a rookie year with a better knowledge of the locker room, what his offseason has looked like, what he learned about his skills at the plate from big league pitching, the excitement around the team's youth-focused message for this season, his mindset of trying to win a job during Spring Training, not paying attention to the media (although someone near him does...) and focusing on what he can control.

Cardinals pitcher Drew Rom joins Matt Pauley at Winter Warm-Up to talk about his recovery from injury, the ways he grew as a player through observation during the injury, how you react to movement on the 40-man roster, the chance for the young guys to seize their chances this season, the best way to use data for him and the organization going forward and his plan as he ramps up for camp.

Cardinals SP Erick Fedde joins Matt Pauley at Winter Warm-Up to talk about the uniqueness of the event compared to other teams he's been with, how important it was that he developed more pitches last year, how they lead to his best season as a pro, changing to the sweeper and adding a changeup, his mindset going into a year with just a year on his contract, the team being able to lean on him and the rest of the starters and his usual spring schedule.

Cardinals RP Chris Roycroft joined Matt Pauley at Winter Warm-Up to talk about his first ever Winter Warm-Up, how he's been improving as a pitcher over the last year, working his way the long path through independent ball, learning to be strategic with his velocity, how the level jumps and the way the mental game is the biggest part of that, what he learned about his pitching from what the hitters were telling him and his plan as they ramp up to Spring Training.