After a sloppy weekend sweep in Pittsburgh, the Orioles took advantage of decent pitching and cold bats in Chicago, closing out a trio of wins that buoys the upcoming home stand against San Francisco and Arizona with some renewed optimism. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss all elements of a Birds team that is navigating a choppy start to the season with more injuries and help needed on the mound.<\/p>\n
[ ] @Nestor Aparicio \u2013 Host Todd Radom on the show next Friday as part of the Ravens-themed coverage.<\/p>\n
[ ] @Nestor Aparicio \u2013 Record and air the Canadian rock stars segment this week featuring April Wine and a Honeymoon Suite\/Rush appearance, including Gilmore from Rush.<\/p>\n
[ ] @Nestor Aparicio \u2013 Record and air the Favelas segment this week as part of the weekly programming lineup.<\/p>\n
[ ] @Nestor Aparicio \u2013 Coordinate and appear at the Maryland crab cake tournament stops at Costas on Thursday the 16th, Koco\u2019s on the 23rd, and Pizza John\u2019s in Essex on May 1, promoting the Maryland Lottery Fresh Maryland Treasures campaign.<\/p>\n
[ ] @Nestor Aparicio \u2013 Attend and participate in the GBMC \u201cWalk a Mile in Their Shoes\u201d event on Friday the 17th to support sexual abuse prevention and awareness.<\/p>\n
[ ] Join the WNST AM 1570 Baltimore Positive show this week as a featured guest.<\/p>\n
Orioles\u2019 Sweep of White Sox and Initial Thoughts<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio discusses the Orioles\u2019 three-game sweep of the White Sox, noting the team\u2019s undefeated record on the south side since wearing the Aparicio 59 throwback jersey.<\/p>\n
Nestor mentions the chilly conditions at Camden Yards and the availability of good seats, despite the cold weather.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones and Nestor joke about the pronunciation of \u201cFarnin\u201d and reminisce about Mark Farn Nin from Grand Funk Railroad and the Baltimore Skipjacks.<\/p>\n
Nestor expresses optimism about the Orioles\u2019 potential to play better baseball, mentioning his prediction of 92 wins and the importance of the bullpen.<\/p>\n
Current State of the Orioles and AL East Standings<\/p>\n
Luke Jones highlights the Orioles\u2019 second-place standing in the AL East and the inconsistency in their play, noting that only the Yankees have a winning record in the league.<\/p>\n
Nestor and Luke discuss the contributions of Taylor Ward and Gunner Henderson, who are currently the team\u2019s top hitters.<\/p>\n
Nestor mentions the struggles of young players like Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays, and Ryan Mountcastle, who are striking out and leaving runners on base.<\/p>\n
Luke notes the importance of the bullpen and the need for consistent performances from relievers like Ryan Helsley, Tyler Wells, and Grant Wolfram.<\/p>\n
Challenges Faced by the Orioles\u2019 Bullpen<\/p>\n
Nestor and Luke discuss the challenges faced by the Orioles\u2019 bullpen, including the absence of proven relievers and the reliance on young and inexperienced pitchers.<\/p>\n
Nestor praises the bullpen\u2019s performance in the recent series against the White Sox, mentioning the contributions of Ryan Helsley and Rico Garcia.<\/p>\n
Luke acknowledges the bullpen\u2019s volatility and the need for better consistency from relievers like Anthony Nunez and Sir Anthony Dominguez.<\/p>\n
Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of finding value in the bullpen and the potential for developing relief pitchers from the minor leagues.<\/p>\n
Impact of Injuries on the Orioles\u2019 Rotation<\/p>\n
Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of injuries to Zach Eflin and Dean Kremer on the Orioles\u2019 rotation, noting the loss of potential starters.<\/p>\n
Nestor expresses concern about the team\u2019s ability to achieve his prediction of 92 wins without a stable rotation.<\/p>\n
Luke mentions the potential for Dean Kremer to contribute as a spot starter and the importance of Kade Povich\u2019s performance in the upcoming games.<\/p>\n
Nestor and Luke discuss the need for better performance from starters like Kyle Bradish and Chris Bassitt to alleviate pressure on the bullpen.<\/p>\n
Offensive Performance and Defensive Issues<\/p>\n
Nestor and Luke discuss the offensive performance of the Orioles, noting the contributions of Taylor Ward and Gunner Henderson but expressing concern about the struggles of other hitters.<\/p>\n
Luke highlights the importance of Pete Alonso\u2019s performance and the need for better production from young players like Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays, and Ryan Mountcastle.<\/p>\n
Nestor and Luke discuss the defensive issues faced by the team, including misplays and errors in the outfield and infield.<\/p>\n
Nestor mentions the need for better focus and execution from players like Kyle Bradish and the importance of the manager\u2019s role in maintaining discipline.<\/p>\n
Upcoming Games and Future Prospects<\/p>\n
Nestor and Luke discuss the upcoming series against the Giants and the importance of maintaining momentum from the recent sweep.<\/p>\n
Nestor mentions the potential for improved performance from players like Adley Rutschman and the need for better consistency from the bullpen.<\/p>\n
Luke highlights the importance of the upcoming home stand and the need for better production from veterans like Pete Alonso and Ryan Mountcastle.<\/p>\n
Nestor and Luke discuss the potential for trades and acquisitions to strengthen the bullpen and improve the team\u2019s overall performance.<\/p>\n
Final Thoughts and Upcoming Events<\/p>\n
Nestor and Luke wrap up the discussion by expressing optimism about the Orioles\u2019 potential to improve and achieve their goals for the season.<\/p>\n
Nestor mentions upcoming events and appearances, including the Maryland Crab Cake Tournament and various community events.<\/p>\n
Luke discusses the upcoming NFL draft and the potential impact on the Ravens\u2019 roster and performance.<\/p>\n
Nestor and Luke express excitement about the upcoming season and the potential for the Orioles to make a significant impact in the AL East.<\/p>\n
SUMMARY KEYWORDS<\/p>\n
Orioles sweep, White Sox, bullpen issues, Taylor Ward, Gunner Henderson, Pete Alonso, Adley Rutschman, Kobe Mayo, defensive struggles, pitching consistency, injury updates, manager ejection, American League, Baltimore.<\/p>\n
SPEAKERS<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 00:01<\/p>\n
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T am 1570 task Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively watching the sun come up over Camden Yards after a three game sweep in Chile South Chicago. You ever since I put that Aparicio 59 throwback on the Orioles are undefeated on the south side in front of the very chilly Louie Aparicio statue out and left center field under the scoreboard when the winds blowing in under there. And there are plenty of good seats available from what I saw. And really Luke a rocky period. And I want to give some love to foreigner a farmer. Read it off of your shirt because I see this is where I knew I was gonna trip the comfort guys while they tell me to do that, you get tripped up.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 00:47<\/p>\n
It\u2019s farnin farn<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 00:48<\/p>\n
in Durban. Here\u2019s the problem.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 00:50<\/p>\n
I never what\u2019s so used to say in farmer, right? So, like, so I think that\u2019s<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 00:54<\/p>\n
what trip and Mark farn Nin from the Grand Funk Railroad. And then there was Mark Furner, who was a defenseman for the Baltimore skip jacks. I\u2019m not making this up. You can Google this. I mean, I knew mark for so I the derma. I\u2019m fine with the backside of it. I had Zach out here last week. We had a plumbing job. But they they do HVAC and AC, and they\u2019re our friends. We appreciate them sponsoring all of our sports reports, all the stuff up in the audio vault. And you know now that the orals have won three in a row, I get to get back on the bandwagon, even though it was never really off the bandwagon. I just I know they\u2019re capable of playing better baseball. I picked them at 92 wins. I\u2019m going to continue to remind that over under as to whether they can get there or not. But signs of life happen when you find someone in the bullpen, you think you do the job, even when they stumble and when you start to peel back, Gunner Henderson, and what he is, and what Pete Alonso represents. Dude, it\u2019s, you know, it\u2019s April 10 man. You know, the giants are in town. The weather\u2019s going to break this week. The efflin injury, the bad spots of the No kittredges And the and wherever the Tyler wells are, and wherever the Keegan Aikens are, and wherever Jackson holiday may be. And when Jordan westburg falls out of the Scott like all of those are supposed to be big contributors to this effort, and they haven\u2019t picked up a toothpick yet. So for me, balancing it at 500 and being able to come back from that, that sucker punch they took from Pittsburgh, especially on Saturday, and answer, you know, okay. I mean, manager got thrown out, lit a fire under their ass all sudden, you know, whatever, whatever you want to use in the baseball thing. They\u2019re alive. They\u2019re okay. They weathered a little storm. They\u2019re coming home to better weather. And you know, let\u2019s pick it up, boys, is what I would say.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 02:51<\/p>\n
Yeah. I mean, a reminder that their second place in the Al East going into the off day, and then, of course, coming home now to start their second home stand of the season, and there are only three teams in the American League right now that even have a winning record. It\u2019s really no one other than the Yankees. You know, Cleveland\u2019s eight and five, Texas is seven and five. But there\u2019s no one other than the Yankees that really has looked good in the Al entirely, right? I mean, you kind of look at the run differentials and all the all those kinds of, you know, kind of beneath the surface statistics to kind of see where teams are. And you\u2019re seeing a lot of, frankly, what the Orioles have been, a lot of inconsistency. I mean, I\u2019m not going to sit here and say that the Orioles played great baseball in Chicago. They played well enough to<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 03:38<\/p>\n
beat a bad team, yeah.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 03:40<\/p>\n
And by the way, I\u2019m okay with that for right now. I like it a lot. I mean, I\u2019ll say this. I mean, they won three games in Chicago, and who exactly is swinging the bat? Well, right now I see two guys that are very clearly swinging the bat. Well, Taylor Ward, who\u2019s been fantastic and has nine doubles already, and gunner Henderson, who accounts for half the team\u2019s homers at this point in time. So you know, you have a couple others that have been okay, like Richmond\u2019s been okay, but he hasn\u2019t been great. Pete Alonso, still not hitting, right? I mean, go down the list. I mean, members of the young corps that we\u2019ve talked about, kalaser and mayo, I mean, are not hitting at all<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 04:19<\/p>\n
and having really dreadful at bats. They\u2019re striking out a lot. They\u2019re leaving runners on. I mean, 13 runners left on. They won, but, you know, seated her pants, and it\u2019s freezing out there, and they\u2019re moving the game times around. And, you know, everything\u2019s upside down, and you get there, you\u2019re blowing on your hands. And, I mean, I couldn\u2019t believe people sat in it on Tuesday, in like, in the ninth inning, the woman who had the mask up, and the six, same six White Sox fans there wearing Ron Kittle jerseys, or the hell was going on like I\u2019m watching it because I Luke, it doesn\u2019t mean anything to you, and it maybe doesn\u2019t mean anything in my audience, except that I\u2019ve experienced this stuff. So I worked in Chicago to. Of the century. I was nationally syndicated. My kid was of that. He was 1415, years old. I brought him out on a road trip when the Orioles played in Comiskey on a Tuesday night, sort of Albert Bell era. I mean, this is 99 2000 and Dude, it was so cold. There were 3500 people there, which felt like nobody\u2019s in now, I see games that look like there\u2019s less than 1000 they look like Eggers down games or whatever. I mean literally, because they just don\u2019t care. They\u2019re making it for television. They don\u2019t care. They don\u2019t care about they if you\u2019re saying they care about the fans and moving the game from seven o\u2019clock to two o\u2019clock, then they really don\u2019t care if anybody shows up. And then when people show up, I feel sorry for them. You know what I mean? I felt sorry for Rob long and his little hoodie down in the dugout like I\u2019m it\u2019s cold, man, and playing baseball, and it is not natural, not anymore natural, seeing these kids run around with the lacrosse sticks when it\u2019s 28 degrees around here. But I mean, and I didn\u2019t play lacrosse, but I played baseball. It\u2019s not baseball weather and it\u2019s, it\u2019s not, it\u2019s just not going to be good, as my dad would say quar needs more heat to pitch.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 06:05<\/p>\n
So, I mean, it\u2019s, it is what it is, right? But they won<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 06:08<\/p>\n
three. Gonna<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 06:10<\/p>\n
say? I mean, yeah, one three was the eyeball test. Impressive. No, not really. I mean, I have to say this, since you mentioned Tuesday, anyone who watched that game through the first four or five innings, and I\u2019m not talking Orioles baseball. I\u2019m not talking White Sox baseball here, those first four or five innings. That\u2019s some of the worst Major League Baseball I\u2019ve ever watched. The first 11 Orioles batters, six strikeouts, four walks and a hit by bat, hit by pitch. I mean, there, there wasn\u2019t a ball put in play over those first 11 batters. And that\u2019s not to say it was good pitching, because, I mean, the White Sox starter who, by the way, was optioned to the miners after that game on Tuesday. I mean, we talked a lot about the three true outcomes in baseball. I mean, that was the two outcomes, because you weren\u2019t getting any home runs even so. But they found a way. And the thing that I will say, and I will take some some optimism away, they pitch pretty well in this series. And again, it\u2019s the White Sox, right? I\u2019m not going to sit here and act like the White Sox or anything to pop your chest out over as far as being able to beat them three straight. But they pitched, well, you know, shaky with Ryan Helsley, right? I mean, Rico Garcia walked two guys in the ninth inning on on Wednesday. Well, they\u2019re showing<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 07:29<\/p>\n
a lot of confidence in him, right? I mean, he\u2019s, he\u2019s a good<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 07:32<\/p>\n
story, yeah, he\u2019s been really good. I mean, they\u2019d be in a lot of they\u2019d be in a bad spot right now where you\u2019re saying, How are you getting to Ryan Helsley, consistency, consistently. And you know, Helsley hasn\u2019t had clean innings, but overall, I\u2019m not overly concerned with him. But you know, Tyler wells got off to a shaky start. He\u2019s pitched better since then. Grant Wolfram has had some really good outings. They need him. Because, I mean, there are other lefties, Keegan, Aiken and Dietrich ends are on the IL right. So you\u2019re having to, you\u2019re needing to count on some other guys that in some leverage situations, that, frankly, just haven\u2019t done it, or haven\u2019t done it to a degree where it inspires a lot of confidence, but they\u2019re making it work. I mean, Anthony Nunez pitched the eighth inning on<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 08:20<\/p>\n
Wednesday afternoon. We knew was going to be this when they came north. Sure they did not at all. They didn\u2019t have a stable of proven relief pitchers, and I don\u2019t even know what proven is. I mean, I see Sir Anthony warming up in the bullpen in Chicago, and I\u2019m thinking like, I don\u2019t know if that was my closer. I wouldn\u2019t, you know, I sleep better with Helsley. And in a general sense, this is where Elias is the smartest guy in the room and pisses off lock. And for her and anybody that wants to hate on him, is, you know, he thinks himself as a pitcher. He thinks himself as a pitching guy. I thinks himself as a budget guy in getting better value and being smarter than the next guy, and being able to take a draft pick that he saw eight years ago, who was a first round draft pick, and say that O\u2019Hearn guy always had potential. Bring him in here. We\u2019ll we\u2019ll analytic him up. We\u2019ll figure him out. Zach, well, Bradish, obviously, from the deal, to say that that\u2019s the guy, I think that can be a Cy Young candidate, and then Rogers as well in the Stowers thing to say, I understand pitching, and I can get better value out of pitching. I I don\u2019t know Elias at all. I\u2019ve had half of one conversation with him ever, but I think if I spent more time with him, that part of the pitching thing would be, this is how we find relief pitchers. Is we find guys from the Mexican it\u2019s like a Major League, the Mexican penal League. We bring them in, bringing a guy from a y who\u2019s been in eight organizations, bring, you know, like Nestor Cortez was his first, you know, mission. And years ago, right? So, I mean, he has found these diamonds, and sometimes they escape him, but I think he feels like he can find this kind of talent to give him nine to 18 pitches in his in a circumstance to throw strikes. And the latest experiments are what we\u2019re seeing, right, a reformed position player that they turn into a pitcher. I mean, it, it is a little Willy Wonka. It is a little science experimenty, is it not?<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 10:27<\/p>\n
I mean, it is. And by the way, you mentioned Nestor Cortez because I know he\u2019s your guy. That was actually the last year the Duquette era,<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 10:36<\/p>\n
that\u2019s right, he was a Rule five, right, yeah.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 10:39<\/p>\n
But your point is well taken.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 10:41<\/p>\n
Well, Ducat was a genius, too. In that way, he was, in certain ways, weird freaking dude, nasty dude, but what a genius. Hey. I mean, it\u2019s funny.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 10:51<\/p>\n
I was actually, I was just talking to a friend who used to work a little bit in media, but he\u2019s a big Orioles fan. We were kind of talking about the state of the team, and this was a couple days ago before they completed the sweep, when you know, I mean, I, I know you wrote a column criticizing what we\u2019ve seen early on, I did as well. I mean, I\u2019m not going to sit here and and just ignore a sweep in Pittsburgh and some choppy play and waiting for the bats to come alive and all that three and<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 11:17<\/p>\n
six and getting swept in Pittsburgh\u2019s not good enough.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 11:19<\/p>\n
But we knew that, but we talked about it from the standpoint of, because you mentioned Duke had, I mean, I think back to where the Orioles were three years ago, right? They win 101 games, win the division home field advantage, right, first round by all of that. And even before we got to that Texas series there, there was very much a mindset that I think both fans and media had at that point in time of look at how good they are right now, and this is before quite a few members of that young core are even here yet, right Just think how much better they\u2019re going to be in a few years. And I pointed out to him, relative to expectations, a lot of the Duquette era holdovers, you know, the Cedric Mullins, Austin Hayes, Santander was a Rule five pick, all that those guys lived up to expectations to a way more impressive degree than what we\u2019ve seen from basically everyone not named gunner Henderson to this point, right as far as this young core. But to bring it back to the point we were talking about with the bullpen. It\u2019s kind of been what they\u2019ve done. They deviated from that a little bit at the 2024 trade deadline, when they obviously picked up Sir Anthony Dominguez, they bring in Gregory Soto. You looked at that bullpen that they had last year. At this time, they had more money pumped into it. But I will say, and this is where I\u2019ll stick up for Elias a little bit. And I say that as someone, as you know, going back a few years now, one of my biggest criticisms of him and his roster building has been their bullpen. But you know, they had a higher price bullpen at this time a year ago, and it wasn\u2019t great. They didn\u2019t perform great. So you kind of look at it through the lens,<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 13:00<\/p>\n
he\u2019s been a mixed bag in that the way to Costa has been with the wide receivers where, like, he\u2019s got some Craig kimbrels in there, and he\u2019s made some judgment calls on all of those pitchers that they dealt for in the pennant race, to your Sir Anthony and that group, the Phillies guys, as I would think of them, that didn\u2019t make it to put now, they didn\u2019t hit the Ball, man, they had all sorts of issues, I mean, reasons why they would lose, and who you want to pin it on. And the manager got fired, and they only brought six guys back from the opening day roster, and they spent the fortune, and they have new ownership, and fredo\u2019s gone, but they brought in Steve Martin and, you know, and Michael aghetti and Katie Griggs, and they\u2019re going to get an all star game. And even just all these the backdrop of massing and who\u2019s paying for it and try, they\u2019re selling tickets, and they got a lot going on new manager, but on a night by night basis, the biggest thing that concerned all of us is the bullpen. It probably will continue to be that, because I keep thinking they\u2019re going to hit the ball. They\u2019re going to hit the ball today. It\u2019s Taylor Ward and and Henderson. Next week, it might be cows are in rushman or mayo and holiday I don\u2019t you better hope it is. But from the pitching standpoint, the starters, we only mentioned, effin and Tommy John, which is like the worst possible thing that if you would have told me two weeks ago on April 10, I would have thought was an April Fool\u2019s joke like efflin is already gone. Already Tommy John, good night. Goodbye. Second home stand. He\u2019s not even on the team. He\u2019s not even considered to be on the team. Like that\u2019s a massive blow for my 92 wins, because I had him sort of penciled in as being one of the great hopes of this year to make 27 starts and look like a three starter. Who could I\u2019m going to give wins and loss. It\u2019s going to piss you and Kevin Brown off, so I\u2019m not even going to bother to say he could have been 15 and eight and 27 starts and thrown 182 innings, and all of that\u2019s blown up, and we haven\u2019t even gotten into what the long term part of that is, but I think they\u2019re going to hit the ball. I like the. Starters and the bullpen continues to remain like they\u2019re going to win games, when their bullpen can come in a cold day and perform and give them innings, even the Kate Povich innings were important on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 15:11<\/p>\n
Yeah, yeah. I mean to go back to effing for a moment. My apologies to everyone on the wnst tech service. I had a church meeting in the midst of that and missed it, but I think we all excuse exactly, but when we all knew he was getting a second opinion and he was going to see Dr Keith Meister in Arlington, the Rangers team doctor who has performed a number of elbow surgeries for the Orioles in recent years, I think we all knew where that was going. And it\u2019s a bummer. It happened on this happened on his birthday, right? I mean, he had surgery. His birthday was on Wednesday, so it\u2019s disappointing. I mean, the silver lining is you weren\u2019t looking at Zach Eflin as your opening day starter, as your number one or number two starter or number three starter. He was your number five starter, so you were hoping that that meant a higher floor for your number five starter, and Dean Kramer pitched well in Norfolk on Wednesday. I do think we\u2019re going to see Dean Kramer here in the near future, although they are giving Cade Povich a start this weekend. You\u2019re hoping Kade Povich another year older, more experience under his belt, failures under his belt, times where he\u2019s looked good, under his belt where he can take a step forward, and you\u2019re going to be five innings kid,<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 16:19<\/p>\n
two runs. You know, get it. Get out of the big jam that you get yourself into, because you\u2019re going to get yourself into one, or we\u2019re going to kick the ball around to get you into one, which is a whole other. That\u2019s a whole other issue too, right? And the Bradish melted, you know, they\u2019ve, they\u2019ve broken bats over their knees. They\u2019ve had, you know, the managers gotten thrown out. They\u2019ve been swept in Pittsburgh like that. You know, they\u2019ve, they\u2019ve managed a little choppy waters and weathers and not being the largest part of eating with holiday in Westberg. And you know, where they are with the bullpen and depleted because Elias would say, hey, you know, to some degree, if all these guys had their arms on, we would be pitching our asses off. And I was buying that in March, you know? I mean, as the depletion happens, we start to count on Kade Povich this weekend. Let\u2019s go. I mean, you know, I\u2019m, I\u2019m okay with that. I like the way you look last weekend.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 17:11<\/p>\n
We talked about it with Brandon young earlier this week. I mean, you\u2019re look. I\u2019m not going to sit here and vouch for the idea that Kade Povich, if he has to make 20 plus starts that it\u2019s going to go as well as it would need to go for a team that eyes contention and playing playing<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 17:27<\/p>\n
October base, he will very much look like a fifth starter in both of our minds, or a guy who probably, last year, didn\u2019t belong if you had a real efflin, if you had spent a money on a Basset, you know, if a Bradish or Rogers had emerged, and all of that happen? And thank God it happened, because if Kate pub, which was their number two starter, they would be a<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 17:46<\/p>\n
really bad team. Oh. I mean, if he was their number two starter, they\u2019d be one of the worst teams in baseball. But, right? But the point I\u2019m trying to make is you\u2019re not going to get through a 162 game schedule with five starters. You\u2019re not going to do it with six, probably not going to do it with seven or eight, right? You\u2019re going to need some spot starts mixed in there. You\u2019re going to need, you know, whether it\u2019s Brandon young or kid Povich or Albert Suarez or you know, as I\u2019ve told you, there are some arms that triple A right now that aren\u2019t necessarily ready to pitch in the majors in April or May, but become interesting consideration.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 18:21<\/p>\n
Again, another Nestor. I want to Nestor German.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 18:25<\/p>\n
I was, I was I was safe. Nestor German, right? So, but, you know, you just, you look at that, you look at how the Dodgers, and I get it, the Dodgers spend more money than anyone, right? And it\u2019s, it\u2019s often not a good comp, but the COP is, they\u2019ve had to use quite a few starters, right? And put the money part aside, they\u2019ve done, also done a good job of developing right, their their farm system, and they and they have players internally that they found as well. So that\u2019s why you need a mix, right? It can\u2019t just be you buy your pitching. It can\u2019t just be solely that you develop your pitching, right? We\u2019ve talked about it a lot. The Orioles seem to be doing better, and I\u2019m not going to say that they are accomplished at it just yet, because those guys need to get to the majors and be able to do the job. But I\u2019ve told you, going back to last year or two, they have had more of an emphasis than they had in previous drafts, of focusing on pitching a little bit more. Now, is it as where everyone wants it to be? No, I\u2019m not going to say that, but it\u2019s a recognition of, hey, we can\u2019t just draft college bats, college bats, college bats, for one, quite frankly, that strategy hasn\u2019t produced, reaped a lot of fruit in terms of that being as successful when you know Heston kirstad is, I\u2019m not ready if he\u2019s not a bust already, he\u2019s pus at this point. Colton kauser is off to another bad start at the plate, right? I mean, so you have to adjust as an organization. Eric dicostal. And the Ravens don\u2019t draft in the same exact way that they did. You know, yes, the the mantra is best player available, but they\u2019ve changed their ways and how and how they<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 20:09<\/p>\n
and about to change it again with the new head coach probably wants different things than John Harbaugh, one bit, yeah, at<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 20:14<\/p>\n
least a little bit. No question about it. But you look at the ravens, they\u2019ve had their ebbs and flows, where I can remember the Ravens a decade ago, a little bit more than that, they had a stronger emphasis on small school guys than a lot of teams out there. Look at the Ravens. In recent years, they\u2019ve become much more draft the power, you know, the power five, power four, school type prospects, especially early on, right? Well, it<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 20:41<\/p>\n
certainly projects better when you\u2019re playing against equal competition.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 20:44<\/p>\n
I mean, and you know, I\u2019m not trying<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 20:45<\/p>\n
to get in the air and I L, that\u2019s all the creams risen to sure<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 20:49<\/p>\n
point, right? But, but, you know, and I\u2019m not saying that to get too much into the weeds, the point is, you\u2019re evolving, right? You\u2019re never staying the same. If you are, you\u2019re<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 20:56<\/p>\n
going to be left behind, dude. And I bring Katie Griggs into this in their little 410 promotion this weekend, and we\u2019ll be down to fadeleys on Friday. By the way, I want to point that out Maryland lottery is sponsoring us. We have the new Maryland treasures. I have a handful of these Harlem Globetrotters left. We\u2019ll be fadeleys on Friday. I\u2019m wearing my Koco\u2019s geared the 23rd we\u2019re going to be Koco\u2019s, but next Thursday, we\u2019re going to be at Costa centimonium, and then we\u2019re going to be at your joint Pete\u2019s, John\u2019s on May 1 I was down. I snuck a cheese steak about after yoga the other night, after I left Planet Fitness, it was Tuesday night now, so it was really good. I didn\u2019t get fries or the gravy, but I did go to peach John, so we\u2019ll be doing that. It\u2019s all brought to you by GBMC. We\u2019re walking a mile in their shoes next Friday the 17th, for safe sexual abuse and prevention and awareness. We\u2019re doing that at GBMC, also our friends at far in the Dermer, who I mispronounced earlier, but did not miss a step in taking care of my plumbing and my flooding issue last Wednesday. And thankfully, my wife\u2019s even more thankful. Luke, I get on the Katie Griggs side of this and I wrote my letter and where their money\u2019s coming from, and the truest sweets and Don rove go through all of that, right? But I do think, as it relates to the team, and as it relates to Mike elias\u2019s vision of the team, and we could talk about this for football with salary cap. Look, Elias doesn\u2019t have a salary cap, but he\u2019s got a range. You know, I would think that Rubenstein and arroghetti are very much counting their pennies because they gave Fredo and the family 1,000,000,008 and they\u2019re expecting this thing to make money, and they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing with massing. And, you know, but Elias thinks the bullpen is the place where he has the market advantage right of being able to save money. That\u2019s the place that they don\u2019t want the Sir Anthony expenditures, and piecing it all together as it should look and will look. And I guess we\u2019ve kissed off gun or Henderson, or any notion that they\u2019re going to give him a half a billion dollars, or whatever that\u2019s going to be, or that time will come. Let\u2019s see if the ballpark\u2019s full, if they\u2019ve had a parade around, here\u2019s a lot of things, but the the advantage the Billy ball or the the money ball, Billy Bean ball, not money Billy ball was, I\u2019m thinking Billy Martin. It\u2019s because I have vacaro on talking Steinbrenner stories last week. But the money ball part of this is Elias squeezing the bullpen, right? We should expect that right, that that\u2019s not where he thinks we\u2019re going to spend a lot of money. It\u2019s going to be buy a Basset, you know, get it back, get an off season acquisition, sign our young guys that we can like. And he does think rule fivey in that way. Or I would think that sort of I can get more out of Leo D Tavares, or I can find that outfielder that can come in, that can give me at bats that are professional. I I just feel like he really feels if I spent more time with him, I would think of him as a baseball cheapskate, because he kind of came in that way through all the organisms. He\u2019s never run a Dodgers or Yankees, and here this more fiscally prudent bean count. I mean, look, man, say what you want about the Angeles people, but they were not industry people at all. They were running a lemonade stand there for 30 years. I mean, like, Katie Griggs went to, like, Ivy League and Elias, and they\u2019ve got, they think of them. I\u2019ve met the Whistler. I\u2019ve met the people around these people in the Hamptons air, and they\u2019re billionaire, you like, like,<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 24:39<\/p>\n
I smell that, and I feel that. And I think for Elias with this gig, part of his genius is going to say, I can find better value than spending buying it at market rate. For you fellas, I think this is where the advantage would be. And I think that that\u2019s the hardest part of operating. Being This is thinking, this is going to become, we say the Cardinals, that it\u2019s not the pirates, and it should never be the White Sox, especially in that market where they have people, there are a lot of people in Chicago. They got to figure out how to get them. Cubs ripped them off for years before they got competitive. I feel like they\u2019re trying, they\u2019re spending money, they\u2019re doing things. But for any of us to ever try to explain the bullpen or think that they\u2019re going to get proven arms, and maybe they\u2019ll do that at the deadline, right? Maybe somehow they can package the mount castles and the cowsers and the pieces that they don\u2019t want and get an arm or two that would make you happy, make the pundits happy, make Ken Rosenthal happy, and take on that 10 or $20 million over the last 90 days of the year to try to bring in a second closer a set. You know, though, those pieces that are in the last year of a contractor didn\u2019t cost you some of your Nestor Hermann\u2019s, or whatever it would be, but that\u2019s my long way of saying like I\u2019m trying to understand, now that they are competitive, now that they spend money, now that they buy 100 $50 million players, they have two Money Bags owners. They have a bean counter in there trying to squeeze every nickel out of the Birdland insiders and trying to wave a magic wand to have more money, Elias would still say, No, we\u2019re not going to spend money on that. We\u2019re going to grow that from the Mexican league out of the Hawaiian, 31 year old guy that we\u2019re given a chance, that we made from an infield, like, that\u2019s the Willy Wonka brew. I feel like Mike Elias sells to these people. And it has to be that way, because I don\u2019t fill in that stadium up and thinking this thing\u2019s going to pump money out in some way. I don\u2019t smell it. I mean, I just don\u2019t. And I so I\u2019m always thinking that this is going to be his market advantage.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 26:57<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know. I mean, I hear what you\u2019re saying, but last year, Sir Anthony Dominguez was making $8 million Gregory Soto was making, I think, I can\u2019t remember off the top my head, but he was making real money. Andrew Kittredge was on a $9 million base salary with a $1 million<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 27:12<\/p>\n
buyout after they wasted money on Kimball the year before, too a lot of money.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 27:16<\/p>\n
So I don\u2019t, I don\u2019t know if this is like, what their bullpen is now really signals anything other than that\u2019s just how the 2026 club is constructed.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 27:25<\/p>\n
It\u2019s, I think he might think it\u2019s the riskiest money he can spend is in the bullpen.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 27:29<\/p>\n
I think that\u2019s short. I mean, short of like, nine figure contracts. Sure I would agree with that, and I think that the industry would mostly agree with that, just based on the volatility you see from year to year. I mean, we always romanticize the Mariano Rivera\u2019s or the Trevor Hoffman\u2019s, but you can find a heck of a lot of relievers out there that even had long, very fruitful careers. And you\u2019ll go find someone who pitched for 15 years, and four or five of those years were absolute clunkers. Where you say, Man, that guy is unusable and high leverage.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 28:03<\/p>\n
So because he wasn\u2019t throwing strikes, that\u2019s usually part of throwing the ball, 98 miles an hour, right?<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 28:08<\/p>\n
Well, I mean, even before, but, but even before we got into this, you know, this current age of crazy velocity. I mean, it\u2019s just, it\u2019s volatile, right? In a simplistic way, relievers are what failed starters almost across the board. Now you\u2019ll find some rare exceptions there, but even once upon a time, there were thoughts of Mariano Rivera being being a starter, right? So Zach Britton was a starter before he became an awesome Greg<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 28:31<\/p>\n
Olsen at all. Right?<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 28:32<\/p>\n
So, so that just inherently, there\u2019s a little bit of that that goes on, but it\u2019s just, it\u2019s volatile. It\u2019s volatile, and I think how the Orioles are presently constructed, and believe me, I have my concerns about this pen. You know that you heard me talk about it all winter. I still do regardless of the fact that, hey, Rico Garcia has done a nice job, and I\u2019d like what I\u2019ve seen from Anthony Nunez, other than failing to field a dribbler in Pittsburgh in a game where they should have won and ended up losing, but there\u2019s still a lot of a lot of question marks in that group. But if you\u2019re trying to look at this thing, and you have to look at every part of a roster as you\u2019re trying to assess, Mike Elias would probably tell you, our expectations are that our rotation is going to be better, and we have Trevor Rogers, who is looking exactly like he did a year ago, and has looked the part of an ace. He\u2019s been a stopper for them, right? I mean, for all the frustration of how they swung the bats on Tuesday, Trevor Rogers did his thing again, right? And gave them enough.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 29:37<\/p>\n
It is trending in the right direction where you\u2019d want it in the early part of April from that aspect, which is why you and I can remain bullish on them when they they sweep a series to say they\u2019re doing what they need to do, to wait for holiday and wait for Westberg and wait for better weather, and, you know, and more solid through their rotation, whatever their rotation is going to be, because it just. Changed dramatically, right?<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 30:01<\/p>\n
Well, I\u2019m not ready to say I\u2019m fully you know, good with where the rotation is, but Rogers Bradish looked better on Wednesday afternoon, other than getting ticked off and costing himself a run. And by the way, I don\u2019t know if you heard his post game comments. I mean, he he owned it. He completely owned it. He said that was childish. That will not happen again. And in defense of Kyle Bradish, I know we haven\u2019t watched him pitch a whole lot the last year and a half, but going back to when he was a rookie, going back to 2023 He\u2019s not someone who exhibited that kind of immaturity, or, you know, losing his mind in the way that you know, you think how Sidney pots own would have meltdowns, and, you know, would have a good start until it\u2019s not or even Dean Kramer. Dean Kramer, I<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 30:44<\/p>\n
was getting ready to say that\u2019s been dean Kramer. It\u2019s not his arm, it\u2019s what happens when adversity comes,<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 30:50<\/p>\n
right, right? So, so I\u2019m willing to give him, you know, I\u2019m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on that. We all have our weak moments, right? Even in everyday life, we all have our moments where we say, I shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 31:01<\/p>\n
No, I think about these guys going through the Tommy John thing and efflin on his birthday, and I\u2019m thinking like all of these guys have been at the bottom of the pit with ice on their arm and in a lot of pain and having to work back. So they throw the ball 98 miles an hour, and some sub, you know, crazy, you know, less than human thing that they do that none of us could ever do. And they do it all day, every day. And I sit down and and then you get out there and things aren\u2019t going your way. I mean, no one\u2019s had more adversity than that, dude, radish.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 31:33<\/p>\n
I mean, especially when you can<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 31:35<\/p>\n
maybe Bautista at this point, you<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 31:36<\/p>\n
know, Batista at this point, absolutely. I mean, for him to have major elbow surgery, and then less now aflin, I mean, there\u2019s<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 31:43<\/p>\n
no good stories here, you know? I mean, it\u2019s made his way back and into a bad situation last year and and now this season\u2019s off to a start where, like they all know they can be good. You know what? I mean, I\u2019m not blowing smoke, neither are you right. They can be a really good team if things, if they play well, they have the potential, dude, you and I\u2019ve sat here for many, many years where they just stunk, and they had Rio Ruiz and hitting cleanup and, you know, just, like, not like, literally, you know, no offense, I loved Rio Ruiz. But, you know, Mark Reynolds batting a buck 80 and hitting 42 home runs and striking out 240 times. You know, like, I\u2019ve seen some real crud ball, everything the owner, from ownership all the way through. Like, I don\u2019t feel that way about this pack at all. And I\u2019m going to hold them to a higher standard, because Albernaz is supposed to be a genius. And they did have 1.5 pretty damn good major league starters, as I saw it, to say, like, all right, I\u2019ll take mine and play yours. But the pot, the Hall of potential, for the rutsman\u2019s and the cowsers and all the draft picks, they they\u2019re striking out too much. They\u2019re situationally not like I am worried more about that part of the operation now that we\u2019re two years into this.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 32:55<\/p>\n
Well, I mean, some of these guys have struggled for a long time now. I mean, look, I\u2019m I\u2019m way more apt to give some Samuel besayo, who\u2019s 21 years old, and even Dylan beavers, who has swung the bat better than some of the other guys, but we\u2019ve seen him have his lapses defensively. Those guys are still rookies, right? You know, Colton cows are 26 I mean Adley rutsman is 28 I mean the idea that we\u2019re going to use young with Adley rushman at this point in time, and look, Adley has gotten off to a better start with the with the bat this year, so I\u2019ve been encouraged by that. But I\u2019m also not going to say, well, he\u2019s back and there\u2019s nothing to worry about two weeks into the season.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 33:34<\/p>\n
Him being adequate is just so disappointing. And sure, some sort of Matt weeders. Way, you know,<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 33:43<\/p>\n
at this point I take Matt weed I 100% based on it\u2019s 100% I can remember talking to you back in 2023 and I said this, at this point, I\u2019ll own it. What we Adley rutsman two years, two calendar years into his major league career, was better than Matt weeders ever was, but the Adley rutschman we\u2019ve seen since then is worse than that weeders was at as when he was a starting player, not talking about like we when he went off to the Cardinals and he was a backup for the nationals for for five minutes. But to go back to, you know what we\u2019re talking about here with this offense, I mean, what\u2019s what was encouraging about this series? And there wasn\u2019t a whole lot to be impressed about, other than, you know, the pitching. They pitched well enough they got a good start from Rogers. Bradish was better. Think Bradish a big thing for him first pitch strikes that that rate has been down for him so far in 2026 compared to what we saw not just last year in his limited sample, in return, but previously in his career. So, you know, he\u2019s fighting the command a little bit. I don\u2019t think the stuff, he hasn\u2019t carried his stuff as well when we\u2019re talking getting deeper into the games. But it\u2019s been cold. It hasn\u2019t been conducive. You know, he\u2019s not pitching in 7580 to. Degree weather, which he will be in the not too distant future. So that part of it, I\u2019m not as concerned about, but he needs to be better. And he\u2019d be the first to tell you that, you know, Boz has pitched well, save for one inning, right? I mean, boss has pitched pretty darn well, save for his second inning in his debut start. So I want to see, I not. I want to. They need to see a better version of Chris Bassett. I mean, Chris Bassett has another starter too, like he\u2019s had, he\u2019s gonna be in the bullpen, or should be, because that\u2019s, that\u2019s how bad it\u2019s been. And you know, we\u2019re gonna see the fifth, you know Povich is gonna get started on Sunday, whether it\u2019s going to be him, and they give Kramer a little more time at Norfolk, or Kramer, who pitched well for the tides in his last time out, we see him later on in the home stand. You know, I would lean that way just because of who Dean Kramer is. But you know, you want to see more consistency there, and to go back, because we talked, we\u2019re kind of talking in circles about the bullpen, but they need their starters to be more consistent. If their starters are more consistent, that eases some of the pressure and the workload on the bullpen. It\u2019s all related, right? If their offense is better, they\u2019re not playing in four to two games. They\u2019re playing in eight to three games, right? I, you know, my joke going back a couple years ago, they needed more blowouts then it\u2019s, it\u2019s all, you know, we tend to do this thing, and we do, we do this in every sport, because we do the same thing with the Ravens talking about defense, offense or special teams. It\u2019s all related, right? The better you are in one area. A little less is needed from some of the other areas. And if you\u2019re really good in all the areas, that\u2019s the makings of a great team. So you look at where the Orioles have been right now, and my overall assessment isn\u2019t terribly different than it was coming out of the Pittsburgh game. I haven\u2019t been terribly impressed with what I\u2019ve seen across the board, save for a few individuals, but those few individuals doing what they did, meaning what Taylor Ward did on Wednesday afternoon, having three doubles. I mean, he, he had a bad first series. You know, he had a bad start to the first home stand. He\u2019s been really good since then. I mean, he has swung the bat exceptionally well. He hasn\u2019t hit home runs. But, like I said, I mean, he\u2019s, he has nine doubles already. I mean, go look at the Orioles total number of doubles. He\u2019s, he\u2019s accounted for. They have 23 doubles total. He has nine of them. Gunner Henderson has four home runs. The Orioles have eight total. So it really speaks to how little anyone else is slugged except those two guys. But you can get through a three game series with a couple guys hitting right if they\u2019re hitting at a high level in the long run, yeah, of course, they\u2019re going to need way more from Pete Alonso. I mean, if Pete Alonso doesn\u2019t hit, they have way bigger problems than anything we\u2019re talking about right now. I\u2019m going to work under the assumption that Pete Alonso will start hitting, right So, but when you\u2019re talking about cowser and<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 38:01<\/p>\n
Kobe mayo and kind of going down the list of those guys beside Oh. I mean, you\u2019re talking about guys who haven\u2019t done it at this level yet. I mean, cows are when he did it at his best, two years ago. At this point in time, kauser knows the book is out on him 100% unequivocally, don\u2019t throw him a fastball, throw him change ups and breaking balls. He can\u2019t hit him. I mean, he just can\u2019t, until he proves otherwise. I don\u2019t know why you would throw him a fastball. I mean, it\u2019s just the truth. He understands that, but, you know, it\u2019s amounted to he, I will say this, he\u2019s not striking out at quite as high of a rate as last year, but he\u2019s not hitting for any power either. I mean, it\u2019s, it\u2019s one thing. And you mentioned strikeouts a lot. What do I always tell you, I can live with the strikeouts if what it\u2019s accompanied by slug. They\u2019re not slugging right now, it\u2019s for a couple guys. So, you know, Gunner struck out quite a bit. I mean, gunner has 17 strikeouts and 49 played appearances. That\u2019s a lot, but he\u2019s also homeward four times, and He\u2019s doubled three times, and he\u2019s also, he\u2019s drawn some walks as well. So the profile of striking out a lot. Kyle Schwarber strikes out, as you know, go, look at go, look at his strikeout numbers on a daily or annual basis for the Phillies, Kyle Schwarber also can hit 50 home runs, and he\u2019s also going to walk. Going to walk 100 plus times and and do all kinds of other things that allow you to live with that part of his game so far with some of these Orioles. I mean, it\u2019s, you know, you\u2019re seeing a lot of strikeouts and you\u2019re not seeing much pop, which, again, cold in Chicago, not like it was 90 degree, dude. I told John<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 39:41<\/p>\n
Martin, you guys start giving some more money. Giving some more money away. They got, you know, I mean,<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 39:44<\/p>\n
it\u2019s ridiculous, yeah, so, but all that being said, they pitched well enough. And the thing I really liked, and we really saw this on Tuesday, big time. You know, Gunner hits the big home run. They got it done, right? You\u2019re not going to play. You\u2019re. Absolute best for 162 games. You\u2019re going to go through periods of time where you\u2019re not hitting. You\u2019re going to go through periods of time where you don\u2019t pitch as well. You\u2019re going to go through periods of time when your bullpen is completely spent because they\u2019ve had to work a lot. You\u2019re going to go through time a time or two through your rotation where no one pitches all that well.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 40:17<\/p>\n
So this team\u2019s definitely going to go through some hitting slumps and Yeah, l, o, B\u2019s and K\u2019s because, like, they\u2019re built for it. And I, you know, I can\u2019t expect a, you know, a wolf\u2019s a wolf man, you know what I mean? Like, strike out and strike out.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 40:32<\/p>\n
And the other part, and this is, you know, this is the part of the game where we\u2019ve talked about, we haven\u2019t talked about it a lot in this conversation, but we\u2019ve talked about it plenty in general, you know, they\u2019re not great defensively. They\u2019re not good defensively. They don\u2019t really have too many guys that profile as average defensively. You know, I like what I\u2019m seeing from Blake. No, it\u2019s the truth, though.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 40:55<\/p>\n
I like cut that up. That\u2019s comedy. I mean, really that<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 40:59<\/p>\n
they don\u2019t. I mean, who? Gunnar Henderson is, at times can play a good to your point when<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 41:05<\/p>\n
they hit the ball at somebody. It\u2019s an adventure for all of us, and it generally<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 41:11<\/p>\n
can be. I mean, their outfield, their outfield defense needs to be better. I mean, that that\u2019s been really bad, their infield defense. You know, I think gunner Henderson, from where he was a couple years ago is playing a better shortstop. I don\u2019t have, I don\u2019t, generally speaking, I don\u2019t have any concerns when the ball is hit. The gunner. I think Blaze out, he\u2019s not a liability, exactly. You know, he\u2019s not saying he\u2019s going to become a Gold Glove shortstop.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 41:33<\/p>\n
Again, he\u2019s going to hit 34<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 41:34<\/p>\n
home runs exactly. I like what I\u2019ve seen from Blaze Alexander defensively. You know, Peter Pete Alonso, generally speaking. I mean, that\u2019s kind of been the best part of his game so far, which is damning him with praise until he starts swinging the bat better, but, but their outfield defense has left a lot to be desired. I mean, we talked a lot about where cows are was in terms of being a center fielder. I mean, it\u2019s across the board. I mean, we\u2019ve seen everyone misplay make misplays out there, miscues out there. And we\u2019re not just talking about, you know, taking a bad, you know, bad path to the ball, or, you know, dropping, you know, it\u2019s also been the throw into the wrong base. You know, it\u2019s been that sloppiness. So that\u2019s an area where my<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 42:16<\/p>\n
dad would say, Get your head in the game well, and<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 42:19<\/p>\n
that\u2019s if you\u2019re trying to assess this team across the board, that\u2019s something that gives you some some worry, because inevitably, you\u2019re going to have periods of time where you don\u2019t pitch as well or hit as well. But what the good teams, their defense will pick them up. I\u2019m not sure how often this team\u2019s defense is<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 42:35<\/p>\n
going to pick Well, that\u2019s where the Bradish meltdown was sort of like, come on. Yeah. You know Albernaz And the dugout the other day, sort of like, Come on, man. I mean, let\u2019s play like grown ups here.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 42:44<\/p>\n
You know, I don\u2019t mind a manager getting thrown out. I But<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 42:49<\/p>\n
the air of the Manny Machado acting like a clown, like and we, you know, the Armando Benitez is, and the issues we\u2019ve had around here, but you mentioned Sidney ponson. I don\u2019t want to see any of that in the modern Orioles under Craig Albernaz. You know, I just don\u2019t, I mean,<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 43:04<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t disagree, but I mean, the man, I don\u2019t know where I put the manager ejection in there. I mean, we\u2019re talking about the same franchise that Earl Weaver\u2019s in the Hall of Fame, right? And Earl got kicked out as as much as anyone I love more than metrics<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 43:19<\/p>\n
of all of it, yeah, so.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 43:20<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s also something to be said. Of, you know, that\u2019s an early season moment of, you\u2019re sticking up for your guys. A couple of your guys weren\u2019t happy with how the opposition was perceiving, the perception of a quick pitch or whatever. Hey, they\u2019ve won every game since he was ejected in that Sunday loss. I don\u2019t know. They\u2019re not saying it because of that. Point is sometimes you respond to something like that, you know, don\u2019t make a habit of it. I\u2019m not saying go get kicked out once every other series, but you, I think you understand where I\u2019m coming from. They need to be better. There\u2019s no doubt. But they got a sweep in Chicago. They got themselves back to 500 that\u2019s good enough for second, second place in this division, going into the off day and understanding that there aren\u2019t many teams across the American League that are playing great baseball right now. You know, they\u2019re six and six, and Pete Alonso is hitting 188 and Colton cowser is hitting 182 and Kobe Mayo is hitting 133 and Ryan mount Castle\u2019s hitting 250 but hitting for<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 44:24<\/p>\n
no power. Westbrook sitting, zero, holiday sitting, you know,<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 44:29<\/p>\n
holiday, you know, I said to you, I\u2019m looking for holiday at some point on this home stand, you know, I if he\u2019s not back at some point on this home stand, I\u2019m kind of asking, like, what\u2019s taken so long with him at Norfolk? Like, you know, he\u2019s getting at bats. I get it. This is his spring training. I understand that, that notion, but at some point you want him back. Because, let\u2019s face it, you know, I mentioned, I like what I\u2019ve seen from Blaze Alexander, and he\u2019s, you know, he hasn\u2019t hit for a lot of power, but he swung the bat. He\u2019s hitting 276, you know, he\u2019s played good defense. But, I mean, Kobe mayo, we talked so much about his D. Defense, hitting it all. I mean, he\u2019s 133 he has slugging 167 when he when he\u2019s making contact, he\u2019s not hitting for any authority. He had a bad challenge at the plate a couple days ago. Cost them a challenge, and to the point where we\u2019ll get back<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 45:14<\/p>\n
into the heads up part of the game and the ball like I don\u2019t I mean that to me,<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 45:19<\/p>\n
that to me, is a product of someone pressing, right? I mean, I think a young hitter that challenges at a pitch and in a situation where you really don\u2019t want him to, that\u2019s a guy that\u2019s pressing that that\u2019s he\u2019s feeling it. And doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m saying he\u2019s going back to the miners at this point in time, but he needs to start hitting. Well, you know,<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 45:36<\/p>\n
because 133 you\u2019ve earned going back to the miners. I mean, 130<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 45:41<\/p>\n
look, it\u2019s one.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 45:43<\/p>\n
It\u2019s that two weeks into the season. I\u2019m not, you know,<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 45:46<\/p>\n
it\u2019s 36 plate appearances.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 45:47<\/p>\n
Ideally, holiday would be playing every day well.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 45:50<\/p>\n
And if holiday is playing second base, then you have, you have options at third, not just mayo, but plays Alexander, you know, whoever goes, I mean, and it could be Jeremiah Jackson. But point is, you\u2019ve got some different options there that you can look at it. You\u2019re when holidays back. You\u2019re not in a position where you\u2019re inclined to keep waiting on Kobe Mayo if he\u2019s not going to swing the bat, right? I mean, that\u2019s just the reality so, but they\u2019re, they have veterans that need to start swinging the bat better. I mean, there\u2019s no doubt about that. I mean, it\u2019s, it\u2019s really been two guys who have swung the bat at an exceptional level, Taylor, Ward and gunner. Henderson. Everyone else has been at best, okay, you know, Adley rutsman\u2019s been okay, at least walked, and he\u2019s not striking out as much, and has had really good at bats but, but he also still hasn\u2019t hit a home run. I mean, they have eight home runs in 12 games. I mean, that\u2019s not really what John Martin\u2019s hitting.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 46:41<\/p>\n
Richard Maryland lottery, I\u2019m telling Maryland lottery, I\u2019m telling you, yeah, giants in town, right? And, and John Miller\u2019s in town. So that\u2019s always good. We\u2019re having crab cakes. That\u2019s good. We\u2019re gonna talk football. Ravens are changing jerseys next week.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 46:53<\/p>\n
I know, right, you and I haven\u2019t even gotten into that. I mean, I, I have my thoughts and my honestly, some anxieties about it. If I\u2019m, you know, going to lean into my fashion tweets, nerd them, but<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 47:04<\/p>\n
it\u2019ll definitely be I have Todd Radom coming on next Friday. So we\u2019re all into this. I\u2019m doing a whole bunch of Canadian rock stars from April wine and a honeymoon suite on, I think Gilmore from triumphs coming on. They\u2019re opening their tour this weekend. So I\u2019m doing some rock and roll. Got a guy named Luke dosett Have I told you this story? Luke, no, I don\u2019t All right, so I went to South America. I haven\u2019t talked to you about this on, on or off the air much, but then we did a couple segments. I think I did a segment with you in Machu Picchu and one in Montevideo, but I saw Brian Adams three times in South America. Was it the reason I went to Montevideo? No, but it was like a reason to go and AC DC. I saw in Santiago when Brian Adams there, by the way, Lollapalooza was in my hotel. Tom Morello, like it was a big deal. The music\u2019s a big deal down there, rock and Rios going on, if you follow Eddie trunk, or, you know, any of the classic rock people. So I go to see Brian Adams in Montevideo, and I got very lucky, a man named Nestor and his wife, Elaine and their daughter Sonia, had a ticket, and I went, and I sort of sat in for the brother and got to know this family, and spoke as much Spanish as I could, as much English as as They could. And their their young daughter spoke English, so band comes on, and I\u2019m like, who\u2019s guitar player? Like Keith Scott is famously this demonstrative, you know, swinging the guitar, doing crazy stuff. He\u2019s been Brian Adams guitar player for 40 years. I\u2019m like, Who\u2019s that dude? And I looked up like I went right to Google on my phone. I\u2019m in the arena, and I\u2019m checking it out. I\u2019m like, Luke dosey. This guy plays with Sarah McLaughlin. He has his own band, big band, Juno winning band in Canada\u2019s Canadian people know who he is in Canada. And apparently, and I learned this later, Keith Scott had a physical issue. They had a tour in South America with 20 dates, or whatever. It started in Puerto Rico, and it went Brazil. I saw a show in Montevideo. I saw a show in Chile I saw a show in Bogota, Colombia. Nice place for a night, but I can\u2019t recommend it. Nonetheless, people said, Were you scared on this trip? I\u2019m like, hell yeah. I mean, I mean, I was, you know, running around South America. It\u2019s like a it\u2019s like a freaking Rolling Stone song. So Brian Adams had a different guitar player. It was this guy, and I looked him up, and he showed up, I guess because rush did the thing at the Juno\u2019s a couple weeks ago. And I know you have WrestleMania coming up. So we all have our high holy holidays. But the Junos showed up and rush showed up, and everything about rush in my life showed up with when they played. They did a surprise gig two Sundays ago. And then after that, you know, the algorithm knows I was in South America with Brian Adams and Luke docent, and you know all of that. And I started seeing pieces from him doing media on the red carpet at the Juno\u2019s. And I\u2019m like, Hey, that\u2019s a dude from Brian Adams little goatee thing going on. And I had looked him up, and he said that Brian Adams basically called him and said, Can you learn 28 of my songs meet me in Puerto Rico in three days and do a tour with me. So he had to learn 28 Brian Adams songs in three days and show up in Puerto Rico. And I noticed when I was watching him in Santiago, Chile, I had a really good seat right above him in this arena. And I mean literally, he was right beneath me. It almost felt like a Rams Head gig for me, you know, and I\u2019m watching him, and he\u2019s just staring his guitar, and he didn\u2019t look at Brian Adams. He said on the red carpet that he\u2019s such a crazy Brian Adams fan, and he couldn\u2019t let on what a fanboy he was, he said, because if I looked up and I realized where I am and who I\u2019m doing this with, I might just break down and cry. And he\u2019s like, so I couldn\u2019t even look at him. So I\u2019m like, I got to get this guy on the show. So I wrote a note, he\u2019s coming on the show. So I\u2019m doing Canadian rock stars this week. I\u2019m doing favelas this week. We\u2019re doing the Maryland crab cake tournament next week, we\u2019re going to be at Costas on Thursday the 16th. We\u2019re going to be at Koco\u2019s on the 23rd looking forward to that, of course, and may 1 back to Pizza John\u2019s in Essex. It\u2019s all brought to you by Farnham and Dermer, our friends at GBMC and the Maryland lottery are fresh Maryland treasures. So you\u2019re not the only Luke I\u2019m having on this week. All right, there we go. Sounds good. You\u2019re all geeked up about the draft, aren\u2019t you? You ready for this? You\u2019re ready for all this?<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 51:34<\/p>\n
I\u2019m ready for it. Yeah. I mean, we\u2019ve talked, we\u2019ll talk a lot about the Ravens. I mean, I still O line some other areas, but we\u2019re getting there. I mean, Lamar Jackson\u2019s back in the building. Players are back in the new coach. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it\u2019s<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 51:49<\/p>\n
got a new pass rusher.<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 51:50<\/p>\n
It starts to feel a little more real at this point in time now where we\u2019re going to see players out on the field, and you and<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 51:57<\/p>\n
I can be talking about it twice,<\/p>\n
Luke Jones\u00a0 51:58<\/p>\n
different head coach out on the field.<\/p>\n
Nestor Aparicio\u00a0 51:59<\/p>\n
I mean, that more than twice a week over the next couple weeks. Oh yeah, no doubt. All right, don\u2019t believe any of the rumors out there. If you get the W NST tech service, they really might have dealt for Max Crosby or something like that. And here\u2019s the fruit of all of this, is they get to pick 14th. So for all of you out there, on the max Crosby train or not, or who said what? By the way, I had Leigh Steinberg on, I had Gary Davenport on from a bleach report. So we\u2019ve been having a lot of fun around here, not sticking to sports, sticking around sports, and certainly writing about the Orioles and talking about the Orioles on a daily basis. He\u2019s Luke. I\u2019m Nestor. We are W NSD and 1570 tasks in Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. You.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a sloppy weekend sweep in Pittsburgh, the Orioles took advantage of decent pitching and cold bats in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,2538,5,4,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-671781","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\/116375845866294106","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671781","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=671781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}