As the Baltimore Orioles inch toward .500, this 8-3 stretch has featured multiple good starts from the rotation and different stars every night in the lineup. It’s not optimal, but it’s improving. Luke Jones and Nestor talk Shane Baz and Chris Bassitt and the Coby Mayo and Blaze Alexander platoon possibilities as the Birds look to at Fenway Park after Orioles win

Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discussed the Baltimore Orioles’ recent performance, highlighting a 3-1 win over the Red Sox. They praised the pitching of Baz, who has pitched seven innings in three of his last four starts, and noted the team’s 8-3 record over the last 11 games. They debated the third base situation, suggesting a platoon of Kobe Mayo and Blaze Alexander, with Mayo excelling against lefties. They also discussed the outfield defense, particularly Leoti Tavares’ struggles, and the bullpen’s reliance on Andrew Kittredge, Rico Garcia, and the potential return of Helsley.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host/attend the Baltimore Positive event at Sorrento of Arbutus on the 10th (station-sponsored appearance to run the show and represent WNST AM 1570).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Organize/host the Baltimore Positive event at Green Mount Station in Hampstead on the 24th (post‑election event to set up candidate interviews and station coverage).
• [ ] Attend mandatory mini camp in Owings Mills for the full next week (participate in required Ravens-related activities and availability for station coverage).

Orioles’ Road Trip Start and Pitching Performance

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Orioles’ road trip, highlighting the importance of good starts and depth in pitching.
• Luke Jones mentions the Orioles’ good start to the road trip, despite a disappointing first inning where they missed scoring opportunities.
• Luke Jones praises the pitching performance of Baz, noting his consistent seven-inning outings and his role as a top-half rotation starter.
• The conversation touches on the need for other pitchers like Bradish, Trevor Rogers, and Brandon Young to step up and provide consistent performances.

Offensive Contributions and Team Performance

• Luke Jones discusses the offensive contributions, mentioning Mayo’s home run and Pete Alonso’s consistent performance.
• The team’s record over the last 11 games is highlighted, with a focus on the need for continued improvement from Trevor Rogers.
• Luke Jones emphasizes the importance of the team’s momentum and the need for consistent offensive production.
• The conversation includes a mention of the Orioles’ recent success against AL East opponents and their current position close to 500 wins.

Third Base Conundrum and Platoon Strategy

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the third base situation, focusing on the performance of Kobe Mayo and Blaze Alexander.
• Luke Jones suggests a platoon strategy where Mayo plays against left-handed starters and Alexander against right-handed starters.
• The conversation includes statistics on Mayo’s and Alexander’s performance against different types of pitchers.
• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones debate the long-term potential of Kobe Mayo and the need for defensive contributions from third basemen.

Outfield Defense and Tyler O’Neill’s Performance

• Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discuss the outfield defense, particularly the performance of Leoti Tavares and Colton Cowser.
• The conversation highlights the need for better outfield defense and the potential for upgrades at the trade deadline.
• Luke Jones criticizes Tyler O’Neill’s performance, noting his lack of production and defensive shortcomings.
• The discussion includes potential alternatives for the outfield, such as Tommy Pham and Dylan Beavers, and the need for better defensive options.

Bullpen Strengths and Relief Pitchers

• Luke Jones praises the performance of the bullpen, mentioning Andrew Kittredge, Rico Garcia, and the need for Helsley’s return.
• The conversation includes a discussion on the importance of having multiple reliable relief pitchers in a modern bullpen.
• Luke Jones highlights the contributions of Kittredge and Garcia, noting their consistent performances in key situations.
• The discussion touches on the need for additional depth in the bullpen and the potential for improved performance with a fully rested bullpen.

Team’s Flaws and Potential Improvements

• Luke Jones acknowledges the Orioles’ flaws, including their offense and defense, and the need for continued improvement.
• The conversation includes a discussion on the potential for upgrades at the trade deadline and the importance of addressing these flaws.
• Luke Jones emphasizes the need for better defense, particularly in the outfield and at third base, and the potential for improvements in these areas.
• The discussion concludes with a focus on the team’s current momentum and the need for continued strong performances to maintain their success.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are W N S T A M 1570 Towson Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively taking the show on the road on the 10th. We will be at Sorrento of Arbutus. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland Lottery in conjunction with G B M C and Farnon and Dermer. And listen, if something goes wrong on Saturday, when it’s like 98 degrees, don’t blame me. You should have called them before. They are the comfort guys at Farnham and Durham, where they are on Luke’s chest, they are on our Audio Vault, and the Baltimore Orioles are in Fenway Park for three games before going to Skydome. So far, so good, Luke Jones, that’s all I can say. So far, so good. And hey, Bassett and Rogers going, I mean, this is what we’re talking about, like getting good starts, getting getting some depth in the starts, and then just letting the bats do the trick, and not kicking the ball around too much.

Luke Jones 0:54
Yeah, I mean, it was a good start to the road trip, I think, other than the first inning, right? I mean, the Orioles get second and third, nobody out, they don’t score, so that was a little disappointing. And then Duron, the lead-off triple that Taylor Ward played a double into a triple, but beyond that, after that first sitting, where they trail one nothing, I thought it was very workmanlike, right? I mean, they didn’t get amazing offensive production, but they got enough, right? Mayo hits a home run, Pete Alonso, who is more and more looking like the $30 million a year slugger that they signed back in December, so they get enough scoring there, and Boz was really good again. I mean, this is the third time in four starts he’s gone seven innings. I mean, he’s not saying he’s pitching like an ace, but he’s pitching much more like a top half of the rotation kind of guy over the last month, and they need that. Right, we’ve talked about it. They need it from Bradish, they need it from him. You’re hoping Trevor Rogers comes around at some point. Brandon Young’s been such a pleasant surprise. Bassett has been better. You’ve got the makings of a rotation that, don’t get me wrong, I’m not ready to say is one of the best in the league or anything like that, but it’s better. It’s giving them a chance to win more often than good enough to

Nestor Aparicio 2:06
be eight and three over the last 11 games, no doubt about it.

Luke Jones 2:09
Right? I mean, it’s been really good over the last 1011, games, so you’re just waiting for, okay, Trevor Rogers, it’s your turn, it’s time, you know, you showed until the last inning, and his last start, he looked much better there, so that was encouraging, right? I mean, we talked about it. I think Albernaz, even by his own admission, said he left him in too long, so you’re hoping to see him build on that, but Bassett has been better, so you’ve got some momentum going in the right direction, and that’s what we’re seeing from this team in general, right? I mean, the offense has been better. Is it still peak offense that it could potentially be? No, you’re still waiting on Gunner Henderson, but you’ve got a bunch of other guys who are stepping up, and as I said to you the other day, I mean, you kind of look at the rankings in the AL. I mean, the offense is better than people are giving it credit for it. It’s flawed. I’m not saying it doesn’t have its issues. They certainly situationally, and with two strikes and things like that, could be better, but that’s most offenses in baseball, right? Offense around the league is down in general. So I was very pleased with what I saw on Tuesday night. That’s exactly how you wanted to start the road trip. That’s exactly how you want to come out of an off day after you just had a seven and three homestand, and oh, by the way, this is as close now to 500 as they’ve been since early May, may 6. So keep it going, right? We said that homestand only means that it’s a good homestand unless you continue to build on it and you start playing better on the road now, so they’ve won their first road game against an AL East opponent after they were swept in the Bronx and swept down at the Trop a couple weeks ago. So that was good to see. And as I said to you, I mean this is a Red Sox team that, as well as they’ve pitched, and they’ve pitched quite well this year, they don’t score runs. I mean, you talk about an offense that’s really struggled. I mean, that’s the kind of group that is really struggled to score runs, and that’s why they’re sitting eight, 910, games under 500 in the AL East, and in worse shape than the Orioles right now. The

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Nestor Aparicio 4:12
Mayo home run, where are you on the third base conundrum that they now have that’s permanent in regard to Westburg, and now with holiday back, and the notion they were going to turn him into a third bed. Like, where do we sit on this now that the team is trending toward all right seasons on again? You’re eight games under 500 I’m okay to write you off, but you get up on, hey, you know, Basset and Rodgers, you go to Toronto, maybe you come out of this thing after the weekend, maybe by the time Getty Lee and Alex Life and put the band back together, they can be a 500 team, maybe by the end of the weekend.

Luke Jones 4:53
Yeah, I mean, you’d certainly like to see that. I mean, I think third base is interesting right now. Kobe Mayo has swung the bat way better. Last couple weeks, I mean, I think we all have to acknowledge that he’s now Kobe

Nestor Aparicio 5:03
Mendoza. It’s 200 he’s batting 200 but,

Luke Jones 5:07
but look at his splits against left handers, he’s batting 295 and he’s got 1013 ops. He is raking against lefties now, right handers, he’s batting 155 with a 465 op, dude,

Nestor Aparicio 5:21
you were screaming for the right handed power bat, that’s what he’s supposed to be, that right, like literally,

Luke Jones 5:26
but he’s given, he’s giving you that against left handed pitching, and oh yeah, Blaze Alexander has swung the bat very well since the start of May, and we know that Blaze defends better, so I look at third base right now, and obviously this is fluid, right? I mean, we’re still.. it’s not early anymore, but we’re also only talking about two months worth of data, so none of this is should be written in Sharpie or Pen, right? This is all contingent, being written in pencil, as far as.. okay, how do the next few weeks go? But I’m.. I’m very inclined right now to play this out as the platoon with Blaze Alexander getting most of the starts against right-handed starters, not all of them, because I think you want to, you don’t want to pigeonhole Mayo into the point where he’s not playing at all against right-handed starters, but Blaze Alexander primarily against righties and Kobe Mayo against lefties, and Mayo is absolutely raked, right? I mean, 48 plate appearances, he has eight extra based hits against lefties, so he’s showing that at the very least we know that he’s a lesser player defensively than Blaze Alexander. So I do want defense to matter, but this kind of feels like it’s you’re kind of settling into a little bit of a platoon there, and then are you gonna be playing

Nestor Aparicio 6:42
Gulliver and Todd Caribbean Cruz on me? Is that what you’re doing here? I’m going, are you going to Len Cicada, Floyd Rayford? Here is that what you’re doing?

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Luke Jones 6:49
I mean, whatever is going to be productive, right? I mean, if Kobe Mayo starts hitting against right-handers too, in the because he’s still going to play some against righties, that’s fine, but they thought he was going to

Nestor Aparicio 7:00
hit 30 home runs in the big leagues, Kobe Mayo, right? Like they thought he was going to be a middle of the order in the old parlance kind of player, right? Like Blaze Alexander is never going to be that, right? I mean, I don’t know in the here and now, but in a perfect world, Kobe Mayo was going to be a 265 hitter, hit 27 home runs and drove in 90. He was going to be a mini Scott Roland, you know. If you’re going to put him, maybe not a fielder like that, but he was going to be an offensive threat. Once, I mean, I, that’s where the home run comes in, in the first game. If them ways, sort of, you know, even he’s not, he’s not a five tool guy, but he’s a power guy, and I think that that was the thought for him to be, you’re going to give him the bat, he’s going to hit a home run every week for you, like in some way, maybe affect the game, maybe the way he did the other night.

Luke Jones 7:50
Yeah, and again, I’m trying to lay out what I would do with him and what I would do with Blaze Alexander, and part of that equation is also Blaze Alexander, then against, you know, if it is a lefty mayo at third, and while again, I want these young guys to get opportunities against, you know, when they don’t have the platoon advantage, right? I don’t want – we’ve talked about this a lot with Posio, for example. Besides swung the bat so well, and he’s held his own against lefties, right? He’s, he’s not phenomenal against left-handed pitching, but he’s been good enough to say I want to pencil his name in the lineup every day. Period. Whether he’s catching or whether he’s going to be the DH, because the bat is that impressive. So, you know, you want to continue to give these guys some opportunities, but I think when you face a lefty starter, Mayo is in there at third base, and then you can go with a Blaze Alexander at second if you want to give Holiday the day on that given night, or you give Holiday some starts against lefties, and we’ve seen Craig Albernaz do that a little bit. Well, God, he’s

Nestor Aparicio 8:53
a one one, you’re going to turn him into a platoon player when he’s 22 Holiday, I’m talking about, but I know you’re trying to win tonight, right? Yeah, win games,

Luke Jones 9:01
right? Yeah. Well, and that’s my thing about man, their

Nestor Aparicio 9:03
DNA. Their DNA says platoon advantage, it’s in the top five of their code of commands. Right,

Luke Jones 9:10
but you don’t want to be my argument. Argument against the platoon advantage is you’re still in many of these cases, you’re still dealing with smaller samples, so don’t be so rigid that all you’ve done is just completely pigeonholed a player into becoming a platoon. Yeah, I mean, they treat it like a blackjack hand, you know what I mean? Like, like there’s a book on how to play it. There isn’t. I mean, like I said with Mayo, I mean, right now you look at his splits, 109 plate appearances against right. He’s, he was playing every day through the first what, seven or eight weeks of the season, he’s batting 155 against righties, 48 played appearances against lefties, batting 295 I mean, I mean, that is stark. We’re not talking about 250 versus 275 This is a stark contrast, and you have an alternative that is producing plays, Alexander. Is doing a nice job, and he gives you an upgrade defensively. That’s why I’m looking at something like that. Kobe Bio starts hitting against right handers the way he’s hitting against lefties. Then, yeah, if the bat is so good that it’ll offset the weakness defensively, I guess my

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Nestor Aparicio 10:15
point is, if you’re going to take the bat away from a prospect and say we’re not even going to give it, you’re like, if he starts hitting against, well, they’re, you know, he’s hitting, you’re going to throw the numbers at me that are horrible, and you’re going to say, well, that’s the, you know, that’s the end of the experiment. They had the end of the experiment with his glove with him last year, third base, and they wound up giving it back to him, right. So, injuries always dictate the circumstances, especially when you know you don’t have the Dodgers’ depth, for sure,

Luke Jones 10:42
right. And let me be clear about this. I mean, look, when you look at what Colton Kauser is right now, when you look at what Kobe Mayo is right now, you know, even throw Jackson Holiday in there, even though I, not I, there’s not nearly as much conviction there, because he’s barely played this year, and he’s actually swung about well since he’s been back, but when you look at these guys, look, there’s the ceiling as far as whatever you envision them being at one point in time, when they’re, you know, in the case of someone like Holliday, the number one prospect in baseball, Bisayo was top 15, Mayo was top 20, you go down the list, Kauser was up there, and even if certain elements of their games are might be disappointing or underdeveloped, or to be determined, that doesn’t mean that they’re a failure, right? If Kobe Mayo never blossoms into an everyday player, but he can serve the purpose that he’s serving right now for them, which is what I just laid out, which is a very, very productive bat against left-handed pitching. If he can be that for the foreseeable future, and look, that doesn’t mean that’s what he’s going to be the rest of his career, but if he can do that, you’ll still take it, right? I mean, it’s not the 100% fully blown reach the ceiling superstar player, but well, you’re also under

Nestor Aparicio 12:01
500 and you’re playing, you’re not going to squeeze him in. And when you have another option, to your point, you’re trying to win games here now. You’re not trying to develop Kobe Mayo, you’re trying to win the night, like that’s where we are. Yeah, and

Luke Jones 12:12
the platoon advantage, when, when you’re going to talk about platooning, guys, that only really applies if you have an alternative that’s appealing. I mean, that’s the problem right now with where they are in the outfield. They’re continuing to try to give Tyler O’Neill at bats against lefties, because that’s why they signed him two winners ago. And okay, he has gotten a couple hits against lefties here of late, but that feels Chris

Nestor Aparicio 12:36
Davisy, doesn’t it? I mean, it definitely

Luke Jones 12:39
does. I mean, yeah, it does. So that’s where I look at it and say, okay, look, I’ll fully acknowledge Colton Kauser doesn’t hit lefties; however, Tyler O’Neill’s not hitting lefties either. So, all things being equal, who do I want in the outfield more often than not? I’ll take the better defensive player at this point in their respective careers, and that’s Colton Kauser. So, and as you saw on Tuesday night, as soon as a right-hander was in the game, O’Neill was out and Cowser was in, right. So that’s what we’re talking about here. And look, Tyler O’Neill, I think the clock has to be ticking, right? I mean, I, at some point in time, you can keep talking about the contract and talking about the contract and talking about the contract, but that money is spent, that money has already been spent. So, at some point in time, and I’m not saying it’s today or even next week, but you, the idea that you’re going to continue to play this guy for the net for the rest of the season and next year, if he’s not going to offer anything of tangible value, I mean, that’s the epitome of a sunk cost, right there. So he’s got to perform it for right now, and again, I get it. Cowser doesn’t hit lefties. I’m not sitting here banging the table for Colton Cowser, because he’s not, you know, he’s been an imperfect, flawed player until very recently, where he’s starting to produce in a way that’s productive, right, rather than being below replacement level, like he was the first six weeks of the season, but you know that, but my point with a platoon, or you know, looking at the platoon advantage, you can do this lefty righty thing, but you’ve got to have good options to do it, right, and that’s why I said, right now, with third base, with the way Blaze Alexander swinging the bat, and the way he defends, compared to Kobe Mayo, who isn’t as good defensively, but is absolutely crushing left-handed pitching right now. That to me sounds like a platoon for at least, you know, the next couple of weeks. I mean, if Mayo gets some start, you know, get some swings against right handers and starts hitting in that way. Then it’s a different conversation. If plays Alexander stops hitting entirely, then it’s a different conversation, right? So it’s always evolving, you know. You never want to sit there and be so rigid with your process that you’re not going to adjust and adapt, right? But that’s kind of what it feels like for me, but to go back to the outfield, though, with O’Neill, I mean, again, he had a hit on Tuesday night, but I mean, he’s batting 165 he’s slugging 237 he’s not hitting anybody, he’s not hitting anybody, and, and by the way, he’s not playing nearly as much as he had been, I mean, even even now against the lefty, he’s still starting against lefties.

Nestor Aparicio 15:23
Well, let’s be honest, dude, you don’t want to give him a glove, right?

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Luke Jones 15:26
Yeah, I mean, he still has a good arm, but yeah, I mean, all the talk about him being a Gold Glove player in St. Louis, I mean, that was six years ago, right? I mean, at some point in time, like six years ago, is completely irrelevant. You can talk about a player’s track record in terms of last year, yeah. Well, the

Nestor Aparicio 15:40
Baltimore Orioles are paying him for six years ago at this point, right? Like, literally, sure, literally. Well,

Luke Jones 15:44
I mean, at least two years ago when he hit 30 plus home runs with the Red Sox, right? But yeah, so that’s where I look at that, and I’ll continue to say, okay, and they’re facing another lefty, and I assume he’ll be in there. I don’t know, for me, where they stand right now, and obviously Dylan Beavers is on the IL, Enrique Bradfield has been hurt down in the minors, so he’s not an option to come up, at least right now. You don’t necessarily, I mean, you know, you can kind of look at Tommy Pham, who they signed to a minor league deal, and see what he’s doing at Norfolk. Could, could they bring him up and replace him, you know, replace Tyler O’Neill with him, I suppose, but Tommy Pham hasn’t, you know, he’s in his late 30s and he hasn’t trended in a great direction the last couple years. My point is, you don’t have an abundance of appealing alternatives here, so I think what you’re seeing right now, if it were me, if I were Michaeliah’s trying to assess this right now, and I’m trying to be semi-practical here, and not just saying, “Okay, he’s just done. If I’m trying to envision a path, I kind of look at this runway for Tyler O’Neill, like, “Okay, man, we’re going to start you against lefties for a while still. We’re going to hit you in the bottom third of the lineup. We’re not going to hit you clean up against lefties like we were trying to do, like we were thinking you were going to be for us when we signed you two winners ago, but like, man, the clock’s ticking, like you need to start producing, or we’re gonna have to move on, especially when Beavers comes off the IL, right, which isn’t imminent, but you would think Beavers is starting to swing the bat, you know, he’s, you know, next couple weeks, you know, next by the end of the month, by the end of the month, something like that. I mean, you would think, I mean, we don’t know, it’s an oblique, that’s a high, there’s also a high setback rate with that, so you don’t want to assume anything, but the point is, there isn’t someone at Triple A right now screaming, bring this person up to replace Tyler O’Neill, because they’ve been so amazing at Norfolk, right, so I get it to a point, but again he’s got to start showing something, like something, because I mean 165 it’s not hitting for any power whatsoever, I mean he’s he’s he still has a good arm in the outfield, but he’s not covering ground or or giving you plus defense like Hauser does on the nights where Kauser might not do a whole lot with the bat, but you at least know he’s going to cover ground for you, so yeah, I mean, there’s there’s a perfect situation where you say, all right, there’s a platoon right there, but that’s not an appealing platoon, I think. Third base, right now, appears to be evolving into a platoon that feels like it can have some value to it, again, not anything crazy, but Alexander and Mayo are both swinging the bat better. You know what plays is going to give you a better glove. Mayo gives you more power upside, of course, against lefties. So, so I don’t know, like I feel it’s not ideal, right? I, the ideal thing would be Jordan Westburg being healthy and playing third base every day for you, but that’s not a reality for them right now, so you adjust. It doesn’t mean that that’s going to be good enough for the months to come. That doesn’t mean that third base shouldn’t be at least something that Mike Elias is looking at, if they’re going to be a buyer, if they’re going to continue to play well as we get deeper into the summer and closer to the trade deadline, but it’s something that’s working, and you know, again, Mayo, the numbers look a lot better than they did a month ago, right?

Luke Jones 19:08
I mean, a month ago we were very much talking about the idea that you’ve got to send him down because he’s just in no way is he hacking it, but he’s swinging the bat better against lefties, you know? I still think he goes through periods of time where even the defense looks okay, right? I mean, started up a pretty critical double play, you know, a late night outing for Boz helped him get through seven. I’ve been wondering

Nestor Aparicio 19:31
this: if, if you weren’t a third baseman, what would they really do with him? Ideally, if you had a clean ball field and him as a human, as an athlete, don’t say DH, don’t say I mean you can say first base if you want, if that’s what you want to say, but this is where when you sign Pete Alonso, you basically, you’ve changed everything for all of it, for whether Ruchman can play first, whether Bisayo can play first, whether you’re next Santander, or even if Tyler O’Nei. Could hit the ball, you could hide people at first base. That’s what I meant. I brought that up because Alan brought that up with me, maybe two months ago. Just that there’s a blocking part there for the catchers. He was talking about it just more like spelling catchers and letting them play first base, or hiding anyone, hiding anyone, I guess. Mayo would be a first baseman or DH, if you had a perfect diamond at this point, is that right? But he was a shortstop as a kid, right?

Luke Jones 20:25
Well, I mean, so, but

Nestor Aparicio 20:27
they always

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Luke Jones 20:28
only, I mean, they most of those guys are when they’re in high school, so it was holiday,

Nestor Aparicio 20:32
but moving in the third base felt like heresy, because third base and shortstop, the the timing and the and the look, I mean, I played in both as a kid, and it was a different angle with the kind of speed, and playing the bunt, you know, mean with the minute holiday played last week, you saw in the big leagues they’re gonna challenge you, I mean, like instantly, especially when they know you can’t play the position,

Luke Jones 20:57
yeah, and look, I mean, that’s part of my, especially with the holiday part of my disdain for that was just the idea that he was going through a rehab process and they’re suddenly throwing them at third base, right. It’s like, what are we doing here? Like, let the guy get comfortable, let him get settled in, and let him get back to the big leagues, like that. Or if

Nestor Aparicio 21:16
you had Roberto Alomar or even Jonathan Scope available, second to move him over, yeah. Right,

Luke Jones 21:21
right, you know, I mean, Jonathan Scope, or, you know, I mean, Manny Machado, I mean, even Machado, when they moved him to third, you know, when he was 20 years old, and that he was working at third secretly, Bobby Dickerson was going down the buoy and working with Manny Machado five four hours before the Bay Sox were playing that night, and he was playing shortstop, I mean, there was kind of a master plan there, because I think at the time, what the Orioles had, Wilson Bettmeet playing third base or something like that. I mean, they clearly needed an upgrade there. Well, the master plan was

Nestor Aparicio 21:49
always for Westberg to play second, probably too, right?

Luke Jones 21:52
Um,

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Nestor Aparicio 21:55
maybe I don’t know,

Luke Jones 21:56
maybe, because that at that point in time, probably when you were kind of thinking about it in those terms, when he was still in the minors, and when he was like on the verge of being called up, Gunner Henderson was still playing a lot of third base at that point in time, and and they had Matteo short in the major leagues at that point in time, and I think there was probably a little more like, what’s going to happen here, does Holiday play short and Gunners at third, you know, like, oh, that’s why it’s an

Nestor Aparicio 22:20
open question, but nobody looks at Kobe Mayo and says he’s ever going to be a good.. I mean, look, Henderson’s got his own problems. If you, you know, you look past all because of the bat, but in the case of Mayo, the bat’s not there, so the gloves clearly not going to be there, right? I mean, I just keep thinking like you’re playing him, you’re playing him, you’re giving me the platoon advantage. All right, let’s say he really hits the ball. Let’s say he starts hitting the ball. I just think he’s gonna make 38 errors at third base if you try to play him under 40 games next year. Third, I’m just saying, and not that that would be the plan. Westberg would be the third baseman, but yeah.

Luke Jones 22:57
Oh, I don’t know if you can count on Jordan. Yeah, I mean, like, I’m not saying, like, he caught him or anything, but, but part of this is also Nestor. I mean, we also know development’s not like this, you know, you get to the finish line. I mean, there are there are plenty of players that weren’t great defensive players and make themselves into decent defensive players. Doesn’t mean you’re going to go from bad to gold glove, but

Nestor Aparicio 23:22
I always think about Melvin Moore. Melvin Moore was a guy when they got him, was a deficiency that became there’s a shortstop that became a third baseman, and he became a really

Luke Jones 23:30
good third baseman. Yeah, he became adequate. Yeah, so look, is Kobe Mayo a good enough athlete that he can play a passable third base, as he gets more and more reps. There, I mean, it’s going to depend on the bat, right? I mean, let’s be clear, there have been lots of great power-hitting players, and I’m not saying he’s going to be that, but you can talk about Hall of Fame power-hitting kind of guys are very good defensively in an era pre DH, even, right, or playing in the National League for four decades. Reggie

Nestor Aparicio 24:04
Jackson went to the Hall of Fame, so horrible.

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Luke Jones 24:09
That’s where we look at this and say not everyone is going to be a perfect player, and that’s why I kind of said, like, right now the the platoon at third base kind of feels like it’s decent enough right now for what they’re getting from those two guys, I mean, it’s not, it’s not, you can live

Nestor Aparicio 24:23
with that. If Gunner Henderson’s the aircraft carrier, and Bisayo is this blooming star, and Holiday looks like a one one, and Adley looks like Adley, you know? I mean, you can deal with some of that, and that’s, but you can’t deal with it at every position, and of course, outfield, and that’s part of the issue, that is a deficiency of this team that will linger even if they start winning eight of 11 several times, right? Like, it’ll still be, they don’t catch the ball, woman, you already, I ask you, how long would it, how many times would the outfield misplay a ball at Fenway Park? Gonna happen in the second inning, right? I mean, Taylor Ward’s running around. Well, first inning, it was

Luke Jones 25:04
just a bloop. I mean, that was going to be a double, and then you know, I don’t know why he slid there. I mean, doubles into

Nestor Aparicio 25:10
triples, is that’s the hallmark of this defense, though, right? Yes,

Luke Jones 25:13
he slid there because he didn’t want to run into the wall. And look, Fenway’s challenging, we talked about that, I understand that, but Taylor Ward also is not, this isn’t his, it’s his first year with the Orioles, it’s not his first base

Nestor Aparicio 25:25
on the outfield before we headed out, sure, sure, sure, so,

Luke Jones 25:29
and that’s look, we’ve talked a lot about third base, even in this conversation, but I look at the outfield defense, Leoti Tavares has been a great story, right? He has swung the bat, he swung the bat, one of their best hitters for a large portion of these first two months of the season, and he continues to do a nice job for them. However, his defense in center field’s not good enough. I mean, and I don’t mean like he’s a deficiency as an outfielder in general, but he’s not, he’s not a plus center fielder, as, as starting caliber center fielders go, he’s not giving you starting caliber defense in center field, so that’s that’s a position where I’d look at Mike Elias and say, you know, at the trade deadline, is there, you know, is there someone that you can go get, and I said this to you in the almost

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Nestor Aparicio 26:21
Santa Claus. You want a third baseman, you want an outfielder, you want relief.

Luke Jones 26:25
You’re not going to get all those things, but you need to be looking at mr. Rubens.

Nestor Aparicio 26:29
Open for business, I mean, I heard, but

Luke Jones 26:31
it’s no, it’s no different than the Ravens, right? The Ravens upgraded their guard spots this offseason. We’re still talking about center, right? Whereas last year you had Tyler Linderbaum, and you had question marks of both, by the way, as

Nestor Aparicio 26:42
I, as I head to the desert, I had JT the brick on, he had a lot of things to say about Tyler Linderbaum, good or

Luke Jones 26:50
bad,

Nestor Aparicio 26:51
good, just in a joke, I always

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Luke Jones 26:54
liked Linder Bomb, just in

Nestor Aparicio 26:55
a general sense of like Linderbaum did a press conference and Rick said it felt like there was a grown-up there, you know, like that’s all you know. We saw kids coming in here, but either way, football and baseball, to your point, anchors, right? Like anchors, and and the anchors have to carry you, and in this particular case, Leoti Taveras, you can’t give him 425 in bats in center field, right? I mean, probably

Luke Jones 27:21
right, and, and look, the bat’s been good. One is the bat going to continue to be good as he plays on an everyday basis, and two, and this is where, you know, I mean, we saw it. I’m trying to think, it was a Brandon Young’s outing last start, where I mean, Leoti Tavares did not make a catch that I think most starting center fielders need to make. Period. And it cost him two runs in a game that you know that they ended up, it was the miracle comeback game on Saturday, right? I mean it was great, but there’s a case where Brendan Young, his defense let him down big time in that spot. So look, I’m not talking about these things to be negative. It’s a good thing that they are playing so much better, and now we’re looking at it in practical terms of, okay, if they continue to get better starting pitching, if the offense does what it’s capable of doing, and that, that would entail Gunner Henderson getting going as well, right? That would be a requirement there. Well, you praised Pete

Nestor Aparicio 28:22
Alonso in this segment already, right? And we’ve mayo some flowers here, and you know, Cowser’s awakening a little bit, so yeah,

Luke Jones 28:33
there are things to be optimistic about. However, we’re also, we also acknowledge this is a very flawed baseball team, and by the way, most teams in the American League are right now the Rays. Right, we just finished talking about a sweep of the Rays. What did we see their big deficiency was in that series? As I told you, kicking, they don’t have a good defense, so just about every team in the league. I mean, maybe the Yankees are the closest you come to in terms of a team that might not have major weakness, but looking at the Orioles, they’re playing better, but there are certainly things they still need to get better with. There are things Mike Elias can try to address between now and the trade deadline. I do want to throw something out there. We’ve talked about it a lot. The bullpen, Andrew Kittredge, a really nice eighth inning, and quietly remember his first, he had that awful, awful meltdown a couple weeks back, back since then he’s looked much more like the Andrew Kittredge that you can count on pitching in the eighth inning, and we saw that on Tuesday night, so that’s a good development. Rico Garcia continues to be great, right? I mean, he’s been.. that’s what I

Nestor Aparicio 29:38
socialed after the game, where would they be without him? And somebody said a team be without their closer. My buddy Brian Sanderoff, and I’m like, dude, he’s not their closer. That’s the point. Not supposed to be their clothes, doing this and doing it every night, and looking like Lee Smith doing it is good. You know, so they need..

Luke Jones 29:52
I mean, they desperately need Helsley back. He’s throwing bullpens, that’s a good sign. I mean, hopefully I don’t think it’s unreasonable.

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Nestor Aparicio 30:00
At the confidence of this of Kittredge seventh, Garcia eighth, and Helsley ninth. If you’re playing in big games a month and a half from now, let’s just say, I mean, I’m dreaming the dream here a little bit. I’m dreaming the dream. I mean, that’s

Luke Jones 30:12
that’s the path, and that’s not even counting Cano, who, until you know, having that hamstring issue, he’s been way better. You know, it’d be nice to get Nunez back on track. I think we all see the kid has really good stuff. He was really good the first month of the season, not so good the last month. It’s

Nestor Aparicio 30:29
amazing. I’ve given you three relievers and you’ve gone through the rest of the bullpen, and those were the guys we were counting on in March, right? Like, literally. And,

Luke Jones 30:37
and you’re going to need more than three guys, right? You’ve heard me say this for years now, in a modern bullpen, a modern contender, you need four or five dudes out there that can come in in just about any spot and get outs for you, right? I mean, you just need that. You can talk about long relief, you can talk about a guy that is more of a fifth or sixth inning guy, that’s fine. You need four or five dudes, because starters don’t go eight innings anymore, even aces don’t go eight innings consistently anymore, right? So I better get

Nestor Aparicio 31:07
Rogers out of the game after six on Thursday too, in the afternoon. So, yes. So,

Luke Jones 31:11
but hey, things are looking up. Really good way to start the road trip. I, that was.. I say this tongue in cheek, dare I say that game was almost kind of boring, right? Like they hit a couple home runs. Brilliant Roberts

Nestor Aparicio 31:25
played into that a little bit too, but I’m just saying it was workmanlike,

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Luke Jones 31:29
like it wasn’t this drama. The game did not feel like it was in peril late in the game. Rico

Nestor Aparicio 31:35
Garcia coming and walking the first bat, or going to win, oh, against the second. And then, yeah,

Luke Jones 31:40
from. yeah, right, I mean, no,

Nestor Aparicio 31:42
no, I’m just saying, like, if that happens,

Luke Jones 31:44
oh, of course,

Nestor Aparicio 31:45
right, like, that’s how close of a game it was, and the fact that it never got didn’t feel that way, it didn’t feel that way, that was encouraging,

Luke Jones 31:52
now granted, they’re coming off of it off today, so the bullpen’s fully rest and refreshed, and all that, or all that, but was good to see it was a good way to start the road trip, and now you’ve got an opportunity to win a series, and you’ve got your two worst starters at the moment going, so win one of them, right? You win the opener, win one of them, you got a series win, that’s exactly what you’re looking for on the road, especially

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Nestor Aparicio 32:15
do what Bradish and Boz are doing right now. Oh, and Brandon Young, the young guy, Luke is the young guy. He is Baltimore. Luke, he will be out in Owings Mills all of next week for mandatory mini camp. We’ve got you in the pocket for all things Ravens. If there’s any breaking news, you get it first on WNSD Tech Service. It’s brought to you by Coal Roofing and Gordian Energy. Of course, we’ll be on the 10th next week at Sorrento of Arbutus. 20-fourth, we’re going to be Green Mount Station in Hampstead after the election, setting some stuff up before the election. You’re going to hear some candidates and some sitting council people, some folks running for Baltimore County Sheriff. You’ll hear all that right here at Baltimore Positive. I am Nestor. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore Positive,

Unknown Speaker 33:00
you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai