We knew the Orioles would need Dean Kremer back in Baltimore at some point but we didn\u2019t think it\u2019d be this soon. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Tuesday night elbow injury to Zach Eflin and the current bullpen strain for the Birds as the first week proves choppy for rookie skipper Craig Albernaz.<\/p>\n
[ ] @Nestor Aparicio \u2013 Host a dedicated segment on the next show to break down the recent series, including bullpen strain and rotation issues, using all of Thursday after the series to discuss what went well and what did not.<\/p>\n
[ ] @Nestor Aparicio \u2013 Prepare and execute the \u2018Maryland Crab Cake Tour\u2019 segment at Faidley\u2019s on Lexington Market next Friday during the Giants series, including coordinating the live broadcast and associated sponsor integrations.<\/p>\n
[ ] @Nestor Aparicio \u2013 Coordinate and conduct an interview with Stephen O Miles during the Faidley\u2019s segment to discuss John Miller and his return to Baltimore, including ensuring he sits in on the show.<\/p>\n
[ ] @Nestor Aparicio \u2013 Provide fresh Maryland Lottery scratch-off tickets for listeners to play at the Faidley\u2019s event next Friday.<\/p>\n
Zach Eflin\u2019s Elbow Injury and Its Impact on the Orioles<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio introduces the topic of Zach Eflin\u2019s elbow injury and its impact on the Orioles\u2019 bullpen.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones discusses Eflin\u2019s back surgery and how he worked hard to return for the season.<\/p>\n
Jones explains that Eflin\u2019s elbow issue was discovered during a game, leading to his removal from the game.<\/p>\n
The conversation touches on the potential severity of the injury and its implications for Eflin\u2019s season.<\/p>\n
Zach Eflin\u2019s Pitching Performance and Injury Details<\/p>\n
Luke Jones elaborates on Eflin\u2019s pitching performance, noting his strikeouts and effective pitches.<\/p>\n
Jones mentions a lengthy visit from the umpire and the training staff during Eflin\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
The discussion includes speculation about the cause of Eflin\u2019s elbow discomfort and its relation to his back issues.<\/p>\n
Jones emphasizes the importance of imaging to determine the extent of the injury.<\/p>\n
Impact of Eflin\u2019s Injury on the Orioles\u2019 Bullpen<\/p>\n
Luke Jones discusses the overworked state of the Orioles\u2019 bullpen and the need for relief pitchers.<\/p>\n
The conversation highlights the challenges faced by the bullpen in the first week of the season.<\/p>\n
Jones mentions the potential return of Dean Kramer to the rotation to alleviate some of the pressure on the bullpen.<\/p>\n
The discussion includes the importance of having a deep rotation to manage the workload of the bullpen.<\/p>\n
Comparison of Baseball and Football Injuries<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones compare the nature of injuries in baseball and football.<\/p>\n
Jones explains that baseball injuries, especially for pitchers, can be more catastrophic and impactful.<\/p>\n
The conversation touches on the emotional toll of injuries on players and the team.<\/p>\n
Aparicio notes the difference in injury expectations between baseball and football.<\/p>\n
Orioles\u2019 Bullpen Strain and Management Challenges<\/p>\n
Luke Jones discusses the challenges faced by Craig Albernaz in managing the bullpen.<\/p>\n
The conversation includes the overuse of certain relievers and the need for fresh arms.<\/p>\n
Jones mentions the importance of having a reliable bullpen to support the starting rotation.<\/p>\n
The discussion highlights the need for better performance from the bullpen to avoid losing games.<\/p>\n
Orioles\u2019 Rotation and Depth Concerns<\/p>\n
Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discuss the performance of the Orioles\u2019 starting rotation.<\/p>\n
The conversation includes the need for starters to go deeper into games to reduce the workload on the bullpen.<\/p>\n
Jones mentions the potential return of Dean Kramer and other prospects to bolster the rotation.<\/p>\n
The discussion touches on the importance of having a strong starting five to ensure success.<\/p>\n
Orioles\u2019 Offensive Performance and Individual Contributions<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the offensive contributions of key players like Adley Rutschman, Pete Alonso, and Gunnar Henderson.<\/p>\n
The conversation includes the importance of consistent performance from the offense to support the pitching staff.<\/p>\n
Jones highlights the need for better approaches and results from the offense to improve overall team performance.<\/p>\n
The discussion touches on the potential for improvement in offensive production as the season progresses.<\/p>\n
Orioles\u2019 Upcoming Schedule and Strategic Adjustments<\/p>\n
Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discuss the Orioles\u2019 upcoming schedule and the need for strategic adjustments.<\/p>\n
The conversation includes the importance of regrouping and making necessary changes to improve performance.<\/p>\n
Jones mentions the potential impact of an off-day on the team\u2019s recovery and readiness for the next series.<\/p>\n
The discussion highlights the need for better planning and management to ensure the team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
Orioles\u2019 Bullpen Depth and Future Prospects<\/p>\n
Luke Jones discusses the depth of the Orioles\u2019 bullpen and the potential return of key relievers.<\/p>\n
The conversation includes the importance of having a reliable bullpen to support the starting rotation.<\/p>\n
Jones mentions the need for better performance from the bullpen to avoid losing games.<\/p>\n
The discussion touches on the potential impact of future acquisitions and promotions on the bullpen.<\/p>\n
Orioles\u2019 Lineup Strategy and Opposing Team Tactics<\/p>\n
Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discuss the Orioles\u2019 lineup strategy and how opposing teams are attacking the team.<\/p>\n
The conversation includes the importance of making adjustments to counteract opposing team tactics.<\/p>\n
Jones mentions the need for better performance from key players in the lineup to support the team.<\/p>\n
The discussion highlights the importance of having a balanced and effective lineup to ensure success.<\/p>\n
SUMMARY KEYWORDS<\/p>\n
Zach Eflin, elbow injury, bullpen strain, Orioles, Dean Kramer, Trevor Rogers, Craig Albernaz, pitching staff, rotation, Tommy John surgery, Adley Rutschman, Pete Alonso, Gunnar Henderson, bullpen management, off-day.<\/p>\n
SPEAKERS<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a000:02<\/p>\n
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 task, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively into a baseball season where things go wrong in the baseball season, and sometimes things even go wrong in my basement, and I have a flood and a plumbing problem, and I need to call barn and Dermer, the comfort guys. That actually happened, oh, about 15 minutes ago, things have been going wrong with the pitching staff with the Orioles as well. Luke Jones was at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Tuesday night, just under 500 it\u2019s not a good start at home this week, especially against these two teams. But Dean Kramer, come on down.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a000:42<\/p>\n
Yeah. I mean, we said it from the moment that he was optioned to trip away Norfolk. We said he\u2019s going to be back sooner than later. We didn\u2019t know exactly how it would occur, but it\u2019s pitching. It breaks and I mean, I feel for Zach Eflin, because, by all accounts, worked his butt off when he had that back surgery back in August. The timeframe, at that point in time, whether he was going to be back with the Orioles or not, was probably was back for spring training, but probably going to ramp him up slowly, maybe missed the first three weeks, first month of the season, and lo and behold, he showed up for spring training, ready to go. I mean, this isn\u2019t the back it\u2019s an elbow issue, and if you watched his start, the pitch efficiency wasn\u2019t as great as you\u2019d like it to be for how good his stuff was, but he\u2019s getting lots of swing and miss. I mean, he had seven strikeouts in three and two thirds innings that matched his season high from a year ago. Change up was really good. Curveball was getting some swing and miss, but it was interesting. Drew French came out the pitch prior, and had a very lengthy visit to the point where the umpire came out, and even as the umpire reached the hill, there was still a little bit of conversation going on. And I thought to myself, that\u2019s a little strange. And then he throws one more pitch, and then Albernaz and the training staff comes out, and he leaves the game. And then we find out not long after that, it\u2019s right elbow discomfort. So you know he\u2019s gonna, he\u2019s going on the Il. That\u2019s obvious anytime you know whether this turns out to be something major or whether it\u2019s on the minor side of elbow issues, it\u2019s at least an IL stint, we know that, but he\u2019s going to have the imaging. They\u2019re bringing back Albert Suarez to help out with the pen, because the pen\u2019s just been really overworked. Let\u2019s face it, this first time through the rotation, other than Trevor Rogers wasn\u2019t ideal, you know, in terms of getting deep into games. So they\u2019ll do that. The assumption is Dean Kramer\u2019s going to be back here and making a start at some point here in the very near future, but disappointing for Zach Eflin, disappointing for, you know, not a guy that you necessarily viewed as one of the ceiling guys, but this guy started opening day last year. This guy started a playoff game for the Orioles two years ago. So we know he\u2019s capable, but you feel for him. It\u2019s hard to say whether this, in any way, is related to the back, but I\u2019ll throw this out there. He had talked about it in spring training, that the back was something he dealt with for a few years. And if you actually look at some of the stat cast data, his arm slot had dropped the last few years, I think, to account for that. And he even talked about that, well, his arm slot was back up higher than it had been the last few years. And you know, I always use this term with you, the kinetic chain, right? The idea of anything in your mechanics possibly changing, even if it meant for the better, in terms of him feeling better and throwing the ball better, you don\u2019t always know what impact that might have on the you\u2019re stressing<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a003:43<\/p>\n
another part of your body, for sure, and<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a003:44<\/p>\n
you\u2019re stressing it in a different way, right?<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a003:46<\/p>\n
It\u2019s anybody who\u2019s ever had a limp in any way just walking. You know that then your hips out, and then your left side is out. Say, your<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a003:55<\/p>\n
other side can even be bothered so, so, and that\u2019s not to say, I\u2019m not trying to speculate that this is catastrophic, necessarily, or anything like that, but you just feel for him, because he\u2019s a well, like guy in the clubhouse. I mean, you could tell Craig Albernaz, this is really the first time Albernaz, you know, he had some injury situations in spring training, but that\u2019s different, right? You\u2019re not playing games that matter in February and the early part of March anyway, as the calendar turns the April at this point, but you could tell guys were bummed for him. Pete Alonso was bummed when he was asked about it. Albernaz was bummed we didn\u2019t get a chance to talk to eslin after the game. You know, I think it\u2019s<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a004:31<\/p>\n
different in baseball than it is in football, too, just in a global sense, because football, you kind of expect guys to get hurt and they do sure guys feel for each other, and we\u2019ve all been a part of that, you and I have been doing this a long, long time to see that baseball injuries, especially for pitchers, shoulders and stuff like that, and arms, when those kinds of things happen, it\u2019s one thing to take a take a handmade bone because of an errant pitch get hit by, you know, those kinds of things. If you get tangled up running and you got a limp, and you have to limp. Off, or something like that. Or you dive after a ball and you come out of the game. But, but when these catastrophic sort of, Oh, my God, it might be his elbow, you know, that is when it happens in the big leagues. It to a veteran guy like that, a beloved guy. It does put a, you know, a little black cloud over a lot of things for that evening, for sure, not just that, but anytime a baseball team loses, you know the difference between the sounds in a locker room when they win<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a005:25<\/p>\n
and when they lose no question. And as you alluded to, when you\u2019re talking about an elbow or a shoulder issue for a pitcher, even though the Tommy John return rate is very high, and even though guys come back from various arm ailments, and sometimes come back and it can be better than ever. There is a little more of a facing your mortality, kind of feeling to it as a pitcher, because we just know how fragile it is. I mean, you know, we it\u2019s funny, you made the comparison to football, and I agree. I think it\u2019s appropriate. But pitchers, it\u2019s kind of like injuries in football, where you say, if you play long enough in the NFL, or you play football long enough. In general, the injury rates 100% pitchers with arm injuries or arm issues of some sort kind of feels the same way, right? I mean, my goodness, the the number of major league pitchers today that have had Tommy John surgery, either in the majors, the minors, college, high school, or some of these guys even have it prior to high school. You know, you hear about 13 and 14 year olds having Tommy John surgery, so hopefully this isn\u2019t that for Zach Eflin, but he\u2019s going to miss some time. This is where you\u2019re very happy to have Dean Kramer at triple A and we talked about the amount of debt. That\u2019s why we didn\u2019t spend a ton of time talking about the prospects of a six man rotation. Because one, it\u2019s really tough to manage that with your bullpen, which is already overworked here in the first week of the season. And two, you just know that rarely is everything going to go perfectly, that you\u2019re going to keep everyone healthy in the long run. So a six man rotation quickly becomes a five man rotation, an eight or nine man depth chart for your starting rotation soon becomes six or seven, right? So the<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a007:07<\/p>\n
other day, you said they would use 12, right?<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a007:08<\/p>\n
Yeah. I mean, that\u2019s that. That\u2019s usually, that\u2019s where it is. Sometimes it\u2019s more, sometimes it\u2019s a little bit less, but it\u2019s just disappointing, because, again, efflin had worked his butt off here over the last six, seven months, whatever it was to really kind of get himself in this position. He beat out Dean Kramer. He looked good on Tuesday night. I mean, again, that was that was impressive, how he looked a lot of swing and miss. I mean, even efflin at his best a couple years ago wasn\u2019t a guy that you were talking about getting a lot of strikeouts. So remember when<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a007:39<\/p>\n
Bradish fell apart two years ago? He came, made their starts, and he looked good. He was phenomenal, right?<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a007:43<\/p>\n
I mean, he looked that\u2019s what was wild about Bradish. A couple years ago, he had the PRP injection, you know. But you know, when we found out, like the spring training started, and we found out all about that on the on the heels of them getting Corbin burns, he came back, and his strikeout rate was higher than ever, and he looked as dominant as ever. But we also know in certain cases, when you\u2019re talking about PRP injections, or in this case, someone who had a surgery to another part of the body. And like I said, I don\u2019t want to speculate too much. Sometimes this might have happened whether he had a back issue or a back injury or not, but I just wanted to note that the arm slot was different, and sometimes, sometimes that can end up being a problem for someone. So hopefully the imaging doesn\u2019t look bad. Hopefully this is a case where, you know, it\u2019s a little bit of inflammation, and, you know, maybe misses a month. But we also know sometimes it\u2019s not a happy ending in that regard, but again, disappointing, and for the Orioles bullpen that has been worked a lot on Tuesday night, it crumbled, and then they\u2019re in a position where, you know you\u2019re you\u2019re happy to have an off day, and you\u2019re hoping that you can regroup and fare better over the weekend. Because, you know, we\u2019ve talked about this bullpen a lot, right? No Kittredge for the time being, although he\u2019s starting a rehab assignment, so he should be back pretty soon. Keegan Aiken will be back at some point, but we know it\u2019s not imminent necessarily. So there are a couple guys down, and we talked about it this, this bullpen, if it was going to hold up, I think a lot of that optimism, that guarded optimism was contingent on what the rotation being the real deal. And first time through the rotation, not so much, right? Not panicking, but not impressive, either. Smell as<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a009:33<\/p>\n
good as it smelled a week Exactly.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a009:35<\/p>\n
So, you know, other than Trevor Rogers, so yeah, they\u2019re gonna have to adjust. This isn\u2019t me panicking one week into the season that said, I can\u2019t say I\u2019ve been terribly impressed by what I\u2019ve seen, either. And again, rotation needs to help out this bullpen a little bit, as these guys are trying to kind of find themselves, as Craig Albernaz is trying to find himself as a manager. And how to manage this bullpen, you need to have good. Options, and you don\u2019t want to be in a position where you\u2019re having to throw someone into the game,<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a010:04<\/p>\n
because it makes you a bad manager.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a010:07<\/p>\n
They\u2019re the freshest man, the freshest guy, right? The freshest arm. And Tuesday night after efflin left the game, they\u2019re kind of in a position where they said, All right, you know, we have to use Wolfram now because he\u2019s he\u2019s ready. We have to use Geraldo now, because we don\u2019t really have anyone else, and even late in the game, they use Anthony Nunez, who they probably didn\u2019t want to use in that situation. They probably wanted to save him for maybe a chance to, you know, protecting the lead. But instead, because he was the freshest of what they had left, they had to kind of go that route. So No, wasn\u2019t pretty on Tuesday night, but obviously efflin health is at the top of the list of concerns.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a010:43<\/p>\n
Luke Jones is here. It\u2019s all brought to you by Francis Farnham and Dermer, who saved my water this morning. Actually, the comfort guys, so big thanks to Zach. I\u2019ve had Zach on the show this week. You know, you have a plumber on the show, and the next thing you know, you have plumbing problems. I don\u2019t know, you know, I we thought we\u2019d have no pitching problems here. I\u2019m just looking at the line score right, like you and I talked about the bullpen being the biggest concern. Alan, everybody I\u2019ve talked to about this. I\u2019ve had Messina on earlier this week. I had a lot of people on. We all love the rotation. We all think they\u2019re going to Bob the baseball. We all think they\u2019re probably going to strike out too much be motion, you know, plate to plate and base to base, they\u2019re not going to steal a lot of bases, but the bullpen, two in the fifth one in the sixth, three in the seventh one in the ninth. You can\u2019t win, right? I mean, you lost that game, whatever that game is, two in the fifth one in the sixth, three in the seventh one in the ninth. That is the Bullpen\u2019s problem. I mean, just in a general, global sense, that even if Rogers gives you seven innings, and he did, and he might again, he might have to again, that this was something in the off season, that if, if I were Jason lock and four, I\u2019d be beating up michaelias today about the bullpen, right? Like, because the bullpen, we can all agree they didn\u2019t do enough in the offseason, and it\u2019s sort of like, let\u2019s feel it out. Well, we\u2019re feeling it out<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a012:04<\/p>\n
right now. We are, but I\u2019m going to throw another number out to you, 184 that\u2019s the number of pitches the bullpen had to throw between Sunday and Monday, and then when your pitcher leaves in the fourth your starter leaves in the fourth inning on Tuesday, you\u2019re overworked, so I until Tuesday\u2019s game, I can\u2019t say that I looked at the bullpen, you know, okay, Tyler, Wells has been at best, shaky, right? He\u2019s given up a run in each of his first three appearances. Geraldo is the last guy in the bullpen, right?<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a012:34<\/p>\n
Or why he might not be a big league pitcher, right?<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a012:37<\/p>\n
Yeah. I mean, and he has options, you know? He, I assume, as someone\u2019s listening to this in<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a012:43<\/p>\n
real time, let\u2019s go get somebody new, right?<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a012:44<\/p>\n
Pretty good chance Geraldo has already been sent back to Norfolk, so but that\u2019s the cumulative impact, and that\u2019s why I said, if this is going to work as it\u2019s presently constructed, and I\u2019m talking right now with no Kittredge, no Aiken, you need your starters. And look, I\u2019m not even saying like what Trevor Rogers did on opening day has to be the norm. It doesn\u2019t have to be seven, but it can\u2019t be where you\u2019re struggling to get through five. And that\u2019s kind of what it\u2019s been so far. When you look at radish on Saturday, Boz was able to regroup from that second inning and get into the sixth inning, but that game was just such a grind in general. I mean, just a slog back and forth. They were able to win that one at least. But then, I mean, you and I haven\u2019t had a chance to talk about it, Bassett was just bad in his debut. You know, I\u2019m not, I\u2019m not panicking over it, but 37 year old pitcher, he\u2019s another year holder, right? I mean, just like we talked about it with Charlie Morton last year, we talked about it with Kyle Gibson last year, Bassett could be totally fine from here on out, but his first start was not good. I mean, it just was not, not even close. He was kind of fortunate to not give up more runs than he did in his debut. But when you have back to back to back starts like that, where one guy gets into the sixth inning, your bullpen is going to pay for it. And when you have some question marks in your bullpen, then, as a result, the cumulative impact, I mean, it can pile up pretty quickly on I call it<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a014:10<\/p>\n
falling down the mountain, and that\u2019s what happened to, like, tumbling, yeah.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a014:14<\/p>\n
I mean, look, I\u2019m not sitting here saying that those guys that pitched on Tuesday, like, get a pass. But I kind of looked at it and said, If you told me on Tuesday afternoon that Zach efflin is going to leave in the fourth inning, I\u2019m going to tell you that\u2019s not going to go well for the state of their bullpen right now, just in terms of who they have out there and what the workload had been the previous two or three days. So that\u2019s where you look at it, and say, Man, you need Trevor Rogers and Kyle Bradish and Shane Boz their next time out to give a little more length and look a little more like the upside guys. I mean, Roger Rogers was, Rogers was really good on opening day, so I\u2019m not throwing him into that. But point is, this all needs to fit, right you? You have. To You have to have a 26 man roster, and, by extension, a 40 man roster that\u2019s going to complement the other phases well enough. And part of what\u2019s going to make this pitching staff work, if it is going to work, is to have starting pitching that it\u2019s good, right? I mean, those guys you know, consistently get into the sixth or seventh inning. If you do that, then you\u2019re able to envision this bullpen cobbling enough innings and enough arms and doing what you need to do in the bullpen to get to Ryan<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a015:32<\/p>\n
Helsley, who less innings would make it more adequate,<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a015:35<\/p>\n
for sure, exactly. But, but, but, if you\u2019re in a position where you\u2019re throwing 184 pitches in two games, like they did Sunday and Monday, and then they had to end up, by extension, throwing more on Tuesday night, and then a quick turnaround for a Wednesday afternoon game. Boy, if you\u2019re Craig Albernaz, you\u2019re saying, man, get me to that off day, because we\u2019re already it was some water.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a015:55<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t good at 930 on Tuesday night. I can\u2019t imagine how good it\u2019s going<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a015:58<\/p>\n
to be. 315 on Wednesday right? I mean, they\u2019ll have a, you know, they have a couple guys, Housley will be available. I mean, they got, they\u2019ve got some coverage. Suarez is but it\u2019s just, it\u2019s not what you want it and it\u2019s, it\u2019s why baseball\u2019s so fascinating. Because, you know, the the casual observer says, well, 62 games, it\u2019s a marathon, not a sprint. But we have to remember, there\u2019s a sprint on a daily basis, though, right? And you want to be able to put as close as you can your best foot forward. And again, by by the time efflin left the game Tuesday night, you\u2019re already in a position where you\u2019re saying, Man, if it\u2019s better, score some runs. And you know, they, they had a couple moments, you know, obviously Pete Alonso hit a home run, and gunner had the game tying two run double off off of Jacob deGrom, who looked like Jacob deGrom, so they were able to chase him, but just didn\u2019t get enough going against their bullpen. Taylor Ward had a good night. That was good to see, because he hasn\u2019t been all that great out of the gate. But, you know, they had three runs going into the bottom of the ninth inning. I mean, that\u2019s on a night when your starter leaves with an injury in the fourth inning, that\u2019s generally not going to hack it. And that\u2019s why looking at a series loss and trying to regroup and seeing where their pitching is going to be for the next few days, and take advantage of an off day and hopefully regroup, because you know this this first week, as I\u2019ve said to a few people now, yeah, who are you talking to here? I\u2019m not, I\u2019m not going to panic over anything that happens over the first week of the baseball season that said. I\u2019m also not going to lie to you and say that I\u2019ve been terribly impressed with what I\u2019ve seen, really across the board. I mean, it\u2019s saved for a couple individuals here and there. It\u2019s been choppy at best. And when you\u2019re talking about a home stand that you know you would have loved to come out of the gate five and one, four and two, and certainly they\u2019re not doing that,<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a017:52<\/p>\n
I was going to say, no, it feels to me. And again, this is a different thing than Brandon Hyde, and we always Joel pointley came on this week and said, We never really know whether it\u2019s the general manager, the manager that\u2019s even managing the bullpen these days, right? Or it\u2019s collective, and they sit around all day and they have every strategy that how much is is Albert as going by gut or whatever, but it does feel like canoe has been elevated into a place where he\u2019s really important, you know what I mean? And I don\u2019t know that we wanted it to be that way in February or March. We\u2019re talking about it, right, but, but he might be the best they have in a pack of wolframs and geraldos and Nunes. Is right like he he is the guy we\u2019ve heard of, and you\u2019re not bringing Helsley and in the seventh inning, no matter what. So canoe is doing more leverage than maybe you and I would have been comfortable with or even saying, Can he even be successful at that level?<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a018:51<\/p>\n
Yeah. I mean, it\u2019s but you just kind of answered it, answered the speculation yourself. I mean, you know him, right? He\u2019s at least done it in the past at times that. And look, that\u2019s not to say, I mean, I talked to you a couple days ago. I mean, I like Anthony Nunez. I mean, he gave up a solo home run Tuesday night, but you saw it again. Two strikeouts, you know, gave them two innings in a situation where they didn\u2019t really want to pitch them two innings, but they didn\u2019t, you didn\u2019t want to use Helsley when you\u2019re down five runs, right? So he\u2019s<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a019:19<\/p>\n
also not a guy that has been doing this for 10 years, where his arm is going to fall off either He has a younger arm kind of, sort<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a019:24<\/p>\n
of, right? He\u2019s a younger arm. But keep in mind, he\u2019s a former infielder, so you don\u2019t necessarily want to lean too hard into that profile, right? He\u2019s young, but he\u2019s very, very green in terms of just not having been a professional pitcher for very long. So he isn\u2019t necessarily the guy you\u2019re going to point to in terms of, oh, well, you know, go give us multiple innings. Go get them kid. I mean, you probably do want to protect him a little bit.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a019:48<\/p>\n
You know what? 32 pitches out of him, right?<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a019:50<\/p>\n
Yeah, so, so it just, but when effing leaves in the fourth inning, you\u2019re, you\u2019re at the mercy of, all right, who didn\u2019t pitch yesterday, who didn\u2019t throw a ton of pitch? Is on Sunday, right? I mean, that\u2019s kind of what you\u2019re looking at. And it\u2019s not<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a020:03<\/p>\n
even game situational at that point. No, it\u2019s pure it\u2019s just somebody\u2019s at the plate. We got to go<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a020:06<\/p>\n
get somebody. It\u2019s pure management, right? I mean, let\u2019s be clear. Let\u2019s be real. Craig Albernaz did not look at yaramijo Geraldo in that situation where they were getting into the later innings in the seventh inning, and say, Man, that\u2019s the guy I want to pitch right now. He had to do that because, well, that\u2019s the guy who was fresh right now. So, you know, it\u2019s not ideal. And again, this begins. This has to start though, with the rotation this next time through being a little more representative of what what we hope it and envision it to be, rather than what it was, which you know wasn\u2019t horrendous across the board, but it wasn\u2019t great, far from Great. So that\u2019s where you look at this thing and say, All right, everyone\u2019s been out there, everyone\u2019s been on a big league mound, everyone\u2019s appeared in a game, everyone\u2019s made a start that\u2019s in the rotation, other than Dean Kramer, which you know are. We\u2019ll see him at some point here, presumably very soon, but then it\u2019s okay. It\u2019s go time. You know everyone. You know most guys have had given up a run at the very least. So everyone\u2019s, don\u2019t want to say no, is being has been bloodied, but in some of these guys cases, yes, but you need better. There\u2019s no doubt. So again, efflin health is kind of at the the forefront of this in terms of trying to look at it from a big picture standpoint. But in the meantime, you need to, need to find your footing a little bit more. And, you know, if you\u2019re Craig Albernaz, who\u2019s, you know, he\u2019s new at this, right? I mean, you can scrimmage this, or you can sit next to Steven Vogt as his bench coach the last couple of years, and kind of go go through it in your mind, as far as, okay, would you bring this guy in for this spot, or bring this guy in in this inning? Whatever you can talk about that. Until you\u2019re blue in the face, you can think about that. But until you\u2019re the guy, it is a little bit different. So you\u2019d like for the starters to put him in a little bit of a better position on that front where, hey, get into the sixth or seventh inning, and then, hey, he has his choice between two or three different guys to bring into this one specific spot, rather than who\u2019s available right now, who\u2019s actually fresh right now, who can I lean on to because these other guys have thrown so much over the last couple of days, Luke<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a022:21<\/p>\n
Jones is here. It\u2019s all brought to you by friends at Farnan and Dermer, the comfort guys. We\u2019re appreciative of them. And next Friday, we\u2019re doing the Maryland crab cake tour, getting it back out on the road. We are at faidley\u2019s. I\u2019ve actually got a Koco\u2019s date as well. We punted for one more week. We\u2019re going to be at Koco\u2019s on Thursday the 23rd all of it brought to you by GBMC and our friends at farming, and Farnan and Dermer and the comfort guys. Luke, you mentioned, like, what\u2019s going well? And there\u2019s a lot about this that we have not liked, at least in the early going bicycle O\u2019Neal general soreness. You know the whole deal the Jackson, the Alexander\u2019s at the bottom of the order, had hit the ball a little bit. I think you\u2019re waiting for that to happen. We\u2019re getting a bunch of hits good, right? I mean, good to see that Alonso\u2019s on time, right? I mean, Alonzo is where you need him to be. And I think even Richmond has shown signs of life this week, and we\u2019re just doing a weekend, and we\u2019ll do that. Obviously, after the series is over, we\u2019ll have all day Thursday to break that down. We have an injury, we come together, we talk about this. They\u2019re playing a noon game in the middle of the afternoon. But what\u2019s going well, obviously not the record right now. Yeah, and<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a023:39<\/p>\n
obviously you\u2019re not panicking about the record. I mean, it\u2019s not oh and five, but it\u2019s not what you want for your first home stand, especially against a couple teams that at least weren\u2019t perceived to be big time contenders this year, although I\u2019ll throw out there. I mean, Texas, like, look at their rotation, right? I mean, you\u2019ve got to grow them. Jack Leiter was really impressive on Monday night. We\u2019ll see. Of all the right. I mean, they their starting pitching wasn\u2019t their issue last year. They\u2019re the question for the Rangers was, could they hit the ball? And that\u2019s kind of where they fell apart last year. So, you know, you never really know. But yeah, this has certainly been a disappointing opening home stand. But Al lighters<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a024:17<\/p>\n
kid channels, Al Leiter, the way he looks, but right handed, left handed, but, but stuff is different. Yeah.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a024:24<\/p>\n
I mean, he Jack later has got some nasty stuff. I mean, he was, he was good. I was impressed with him, not not giving the Orioles a pass. But they face some representative arms. Here is the point. We talked about that in the first series with Joe Ryan and and Taj Bradley in the first couple games for the twins. But by the way, I\u2019m in Minnesota,<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a024:43<\/p>\n
and everything\u2019s Byron Buxton here. But go ahead.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a024:45<\/p>\n
Byron Buxton is a heck of a player, no question about it. But you you look at their lineup, I have liked what I\u2019ve seen from Adley rutchman. Now he had an over on Tuesday night. I mean, it\u2019s baseball. Everyone\u2019s going to have some offers, but I\u2019ve seen better at bats. I You see him drawing some walks. You know, the on base percentage through the first five games is over 400 I mean, I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s going to do that for the bulk of the season, but Adley rutschman, his first couple years, he was a 375, on base percentage kind of guy, which is why you talked about him, even though he\u2019s a catcher, being a lead off option because it got on base so much. So that was good to see you said it. I mean, Pete Alonso, you know, slow start, but the bat starting to come alive was good to see him hit his first home run. Gunner Henderson with a big hit on Tuesday night. We\u2019ve seen gunners start to come alive after a, you know, really slow start for gunner the first few games. I mean, striking out a lot.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a025:39<\/p>\n
He\u2019s frustrated too.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a025:41<\/p>\n
Yeah, he\u2019s looked better since then. So, and can\u2019t say I was overly concerned about gunner Henderson, but was good to see Ward get four knocks. Now I\u2019ll tell you one of the better at bats that I was impressed with on Tuesday night, as they\u2019re facing Jacob degrum. How about Blaze Alexander handling a low and away slider and flicking it into right center, which that started the two out rally when they tied the game. You know, they got two guys on and then gunner doubles off the left center field fence and chase to Grom at that point in time. So that was good to see. So they just, they need to be more consistent with the bats. They know that. I mean, I think at times, the bats haven\u2019t necessarily been horrible compared to what the results have been, but they\u2019ve also had some times where, yeah, the approach hasn\u2019t looked great, so it\u2019s been choppy. Basically everything about this team has been choppy through the first week, right? I mean, the defense at best has been choppy. Make me regret<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a026:35<\/p>\n
picking them to win 92 games.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a026:36<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s one week, that\u2019s why. I mean, it\u2019s one week of the baseball season. No, I\u2019m not panicked. The only thing I\u2019m concerned about are things I was concerned about. Three or four I was gonna say all of the worst, nothing. The only, the only new information that I\u2019m concerned about is the efflin injury. Now that said I wasn\u2019t necessarily sitting here with conviction, confident that Zach Eflin was going to make 30 starts coming off a back surgery and low, low and behold, it\u2019s not the back, it\u2019s the elbow now. But point is no one sitting here trying to whether you\u2019re the most optimistic or the most pessimistic of Orioles fans or prognosticators. You also knew no, the starting five wasn\u2019t going to all make 30 plus starts for them. Something was going to happen. You were hoping it wasn\u2019t going to be the fifth game of the season, because then you start to, you know, with the injuries they already had in spring, it\u2019s like, okay, here we go again. They had actually, you know, the starting pitching had stayed healthy. You know, that was the one area the team, they hadn\u2019t been bit by the injury bug. And here you go. But, but you also know this is why you need Dean Kramer. This is why we\u2019re going to be paying attention to what Trey Gibson does, and Levi wells does, and Nestor Hermann does at triple A Norfolk, because those are guys that I don\u2019t think May and June, but maybe come July, August and September, one or two of those guys could be an option for you, as you know, whether it\u2019s number five starter or long relief, or swing man in the bullpen, or whatever it would be, it<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a028:09<\/p>\n
would be exactly. I mean, attribution, you\u2019re going<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a028:11<\/p>\n
to have to lean into that. K Povich is going to be back here at some point in time, right, even though he got knocked around in his first start at Norfolk. So as we say, somebody\u2019s got a pitch, right? Exactly. So you need depth. No, not everyone\u2019s going to be guys that you have a ton of confidence in, but this is where you kind of lean into, all right, Mike Elias and baseball ops, and you\u2019re pitching development and, you know, go continue to develop some of these younger guys. Make them better. You know, make make K Povich a better option this year than he was last year, right? I mean, that\u2019s kind of the game, right? Can Can guys get better? Can guys get become more consistent? Can guys that have figured out ways to get out double A and triple A hitters a certain way get out major league hitters, which is a different animal? So, so there\u2019s that. But reality is, every team in baseball is going to deal with these types of things. Guys are going to get hurt. You lose guys. I mean, the Orioles know that well, right? Look at what they dealt with the last few years, not having Kyle Bradish, for example, or not having Grayson Rodriguez all of last year. Right? So it\u2019s part of it, and the teams that are able to weather that. The teams that are able to endure those types of woes and backfill their rotation or backfill their bullpen with guys that aren\u2019t going to be all stars, but can at least give you functional, competitive outings and competitive innings, those are the teams that are going to be left standing, and the teams who can\u2019t do that are the teams that end up well, like the Orioles last year, which was not good enough, not nearly good enough. So you know, again, I\u2019m not not panicking. That said, this first week of the season, this first home stand, certainly hasn\u2019t gone the way that you would have hoped. But that\u2019s baseball, and whether you<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a029:58<\/p>\n
bring your stopper back. Get you back to 500<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a030:01<\/p>\n
too, and that\u2019s what you\u2019re hoping for. You\u2019re hoping Trevor Rogers can be that dude on Wednesday afternoon, and then if he can, then you\u2019ve got a day to catch your breath and get ready for Pittsburgh and get ready and hope that your bullpen with a day off will be in a better state.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a030:15<\/p>\n
Are they going to skip schemes? They\u2019re going to miss schemes, right? Because he started opening day he would sort of be on the same, right. I hold on, yeah, I actually<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a030:25<\/p>\n
have it in front of me, yeah. Sorry, schemes is Yes they will. Because schemes is actually pitching Wednesday after he\u2019ll be pitching when the Orioles are or concluding he<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a030:32<\/p>\n
was married to Roger. Oh, it was<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a030:34<\/p>\n
it, yeah, well, but it was interesting, because, remember, he got chased, yeah, yeah. He got knocked out in 37 pitches. Because, you know, the pitch count was so elevated in one inning. And I was actually wondering, like, how do you approach that? Right? I don\u2019t know if the best solution is actually what they did, which is to just keep them in turn. I almost wonder when that happens, should they have brought him back a day or two earlier, but then just lower the pitch count a little bit, right? I mean, this time of year, and this is where it\u2019s tricky. And you know, efflin, we\u2019ve used as an example, because he\u2019s someone who got hurt. But we have to remember, none of these guys are fully ramped up to mid season mode just yet, right? I mean, we\u2019ve seen the pitch counts be a little bit on the lower side. I mean, generally, in today\u2019s day and age, other than dudes, you know, other than legit number ones and legit number two starters. Most pitchers in today\u2019s game throw 85 or 90, and then you\u2019re kind of looking towards the bullpen. It\u2019s been more 75 to 85 this, this opening week, with looking at most of these start was arch, exactly, retraining, right? And even, and even 20 years ago, you know, even when 100 pitches became the new magic number, you know, 20 years ago, opening day, like guys first start, usually it was around 90, right? You know, you didn\u2019t see them push guys too hard, unless, unless you\u2019re talking about the Roger Clemens or Randy Johnson\u2019s of the world. So, so there\u2019s a little bit of that, but yeah, I thought schemes like, I was interested to see how they would handle that, because it\u2019s kind of a unique situation. He got pulled because of the pitch count in the first inning, but he didn\u2019t get his normal workload in terms of an entire start. So how do you approach that? So I guess it\u2019ll be interesting to see what they do with them and how he fares and all that. But yes, good for the Orioles. I mean, disappointing as a baseball fan, but certainly good for the Orioles that they will get to miss Paul Skeens, because, you know, Jacob deGrom was challenging enough, and Joe Ryan was challenging enough, and they had their issues with Taj Bradley as well, so Jack Leiter on Monday night, so they will avoid him, but Pittsburgh does have some other good starting pitching. And you know, pirates aren\u2019t off to anything special in terms of their kind of start. But you know, it\u2019s funny. You\u2019ve heard some people point to them as maybe a little bit of a sleeper in that wild card race, that maybe the pirates would be a little bit better. I saw Ryan O\u2019Hearn hit a home run off a lefty the other day, so, you know, maybe he would have been in<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a033:03<\/p>\n
the lineup around here, right? He would not have been.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a033:05<\/p>\n
I saw a few fans making that comment about Brandon Hyde, which, again, I\u2019ll continue to say that was an organizational thing as much as Brandon Hyde, so, but, yeah, we\u2019ll get to see our old friend, Ryan O\u2019Hearn, well,<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a033:15<\/p>\n
you just gave the protection. You just gave all the cover you can give, right there. It\u2019s an organizational decision. You\u2019re you\u2019re built, you\u2019re built to work with Mark fine, because, like, literally, that is the baseball. Thing that we all wonder about with the bullpen with managers, is to say how much of this is the great managerial stylings of whomever, or how much of this is just they get a think tank together, and it\u2019s not only bullpen by committee. It\u2019s decision by committee. It\u2019s decision by statistics.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a033:42<\/p>\n
Yeah, and obviously, when you\u2019re in the midst of managing the bullpen, obviously a manager has some some instinct, there, some gut, all of that. And yes, by definition, the field manager writes out the lineup. But as I always say to people at the same time, you have an analytics department, and you have predictive mod, you know, statistical modeling and all of that, where you\u2019re looking at matchups, you\u2019re looking at ideal lineup, configuration, all of that. And let\u2019s call a spade a spade. If you\u2019re someone, and I\u2019ve said it, field managers for the last 20 years now, with very few exceptions, more and more becoming middle management, right? They work for the general manager, they work for the front office. And my thought is, yes, technically, they write out the lineup. But do you really think there it\u2019s good job security if you\u2019re going to deviate and go against what the front office is kind of spitting out there. As far as what the optimal lineup<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a034:43<\/p>\n
into study? Yeah.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a034:44<\/p>\n
So that\u2019s where, you know, you might have a couple tweaks here and there. And yeah, the manager has to know, hey, so and so is not feeling great or so and so two of his three kids are sick, and he was up all night, and he could probably use a day off today, you know, like, so there\u2019s always that element to it. The. Human element and knowing injuries and things like that. But like, like, anyone who thought, anyone who hated the Orioles lineups the last couple years, if you really think that was a 100% Brandon Hyde thing, I think<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a035:10<\/p>\n
you\u2019re not so. Alan McCallum and I went through that as to what the modern construction of lineups are and how to better serve younger players in the two hole protecting them. May, you know where a Jackson holiday would be a two hitter with Henderson behind him and somebody getting on bait. You know that that affects the individuals more? I think,<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a035:33<\/p>\n
Oh, it does well. And if take notice of this, you know, I\u2019ll give everyone a little bit of a homework assignment, because I know everyone\u2019s not checking out. Craig Albernaz is pregame, you know, pregame press conference every single day. I understand like people have lives and only so many hours to consume. But he was asked about this the other day. Take note when you get to that top pocket in the lineup, the top three spots in the lineup, how opposing managers and opposing teams are attacking the Orioles now they\u2019ve had Ward gunner, Henderson, Pete Alonso, so two, right, he\u2019s sandwiching gunner Henderson. They\u2019ve been facing left handed relievers. Everyone\u2019s going out. Everyone is matching up with Gunner, way more so than with Ward and Alonzo. So one, we know gunner has had his issues against left handed pitching. But that\u2019s even all the more reason that Taylor Ward and Pete Alonso need to make teams pay for that approach, right? Because we know there\u2019s, there\u2019s no loogie anymore, right? There\u2019s no left handed one out guy like Brian Mattis or jet or Jesse Orosco or whoever you want to throw out there. So but, but it has been interesting to see, to kind of see this work, where just because Taylor Ward and Pete Alonso have sandwiched gunner Henderson in the lineup, teams are still throwing a left handed reliever out there. So we\u2019ll see if that continues. But that\u2019s been the early trend that we\u2019ve seen, you know, with these first couple teams, where you get to that top third in the in the order, and generally speaking, we\u2019re seeing lefties deployed to go after gunner but that\u2019s all the more reason that Taylor Ward and Pete Alonso then need to make teams pay for doing that. So just to get an interesting doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019ll continue that way. But you know, teams know. And I say this with no disrespect to ward or even to Pete Alonso, who just got $155 million contract gunner subdued in this lineup, you know, or at least that\u2019s the perception, right? So we\u2019ll see if that continues. But that has been the early trend, and that\u2019s not something that has gone unnoticed by Craig Albernaz,<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a037:35<\/p>\n
that\u2019s for sure. Well, he better start hitting the left handers and tell Mark, Mark Larose about it, or DeRosa about it as well. He is Luke Jones. It\u2019s all brought to you by friends of foreign and Dermer and our friends at the comfort guys who supremely helped me at a very early hour this morning on a getaway date for the Orioles headed to Pittsburgh, Luke\u2019s head of the Camden Yards, we will be headed to two fadleys at Lexington market next Friday, when the San Francisco Giants come to town, Luke, I had occasion to chat back and forth with someone that both you and I think is a legend. And it wasn\u2019t even just Paul Molitor I ran who I ran into, but because the Giants were coming to town, and we\u2019re doing the show at Faith lease a great John Miller and I connected yesterday, because I was going to invite him down. I mean, how often did the Giants come in, right? How often the Giants come in when we\u2019re doing the show at faidley\u2019s on a Friday? And John hit me, and he sent me this beautiful text, and three or four texts back and forth. He\u2019s like his wife. He said, this is like, a big thing. I\u2019m coming back to Baltimore. He\u2019s like, my wife has a suite. We have 40 people in it. He said, If I read the text, he\u2019d laugh. He said, it\u2019s almost like I shouldn\u2019t bother calling the games. I should just socialize.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a038:51<\/p>\n
You know, my affinity for John Miller, I mean, as a kid, who was born in the 80s and grew up on Orioles baseball, really, really remembering Orioles baseball, starting in the late 80s and the early 90s. I say this because I had so much reverence and respect and affinity for Chuck Thompson as well, right? But John Miller was my generation\u2019s Chuck Thompson and I it\u2019s been fun. I don\u2019t have it this year, but last year, I had the full MLB TV package where I had every game in baseball on my television. And part of what\u2019s cool about that app is it will let you, it will actually sync up the radio call with the TV broadcast, and not every night. Like, I\u2019m not, I\u2019m not like a psycho. I don\u2019t have that much time on my heads,<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a039:37<\/p>\n
you know, like the Giants. Maybe colors aren\u2019t<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a039:39<\/p>\n
you black? But there were times where I would, you know, if I were working on something and or it was, you know, it\u2019s, it\u2019s the Giants, they\u2019re on at 1230 at night when I\u2019m getting home from an Orioles game that that evening, I would put a game on just to hear John Miller call an inning or two. So it\u2019s great, you know. And obviously, now we\u2019re in, we\u2019re in a, we\u2019re in a baseball world now where National League teams come. Come in every other year<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a040:01<\/p>\n
now for he looks great. He\u2019s lost a little bit of weight. I\u2019ve seen pictures, but<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0\u00a040:04<\/p>\n
his he still sounds good. Calling games,<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0\u00a040:11<\/p>\n
right? Oh, absolutely. So many social engagements, so little time. So anyway, John Miller will not be having a crab cake, but I tried like hell for both of us next Friday, but Stephen O Miles is going to sit in we\u2019re going to talk about it. We\u2019ll be at Fay Lee\u2019s next week. It\u2019s all brought to you by GBMC. I\u2019ll have fresh Maryland lottery scratch offs. I have John Martin coming on the show. I\u2019ve been away a couple of weeks. I caught a cold. My wife\u2019s caught a cold. So if I sound a little it\u2019s because I am. And the Orioles have caught a little cold in their bullpen in their rotation right now. So trying to get back after he is Luke, I am Nestor. We are W N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore. Positive, you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We knew the Orioles would need Dean Kremer back in Baltimore at some point but we didn\u2019t think…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,2538,5,4,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-657251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-orioles","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-orioles","10":"tag-baltimoreorioles","11":"tag-baseball","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-orioles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116331078180251475","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}