The Orioles dropped the first of three games against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night and Luke Jones joins Nestor to discuss the next few days being no easier against a surging Motown squad with the best record in baseball and pitching that Birdland should envy.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Orioles’ struggles, including their recent loss to the Detroit Tigers, who have the best record in MLB. The Orioles have won 10 of their last 15 games but are still 18 games under .500. Key players like Cedric Mullins and Jordan Westburg are returning, but the team’s offense remains bottom-seven in baseball. Pitcher Cade Povich had a rough outing against the Tigers, highlighting the team’s pitching issues. The conversation also touched on the Orioles’ potential trades and the impact of injuries on the team’s performance.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Orioles, Tigers, Camden Yards, pitching, hitting, Cade Povich, Jordan Westburg, Cedric Mullins, Tyler O’Neill, baseball season, trade deadline, minor league system, Lamar Jackson, OTAs, Baltimore.
SPEAKERS
8
Speaker 1, Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 task Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively into I’m wearing my curio orange of Baltimore shirt, so you know it’s baseball segment coming your way. Luke Jones join us here. He will be joining me on Friday at families for delicious crab cake, maybe some shrimp salad, maybe some oysters. Rockefeller. All of it brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. Conjunction with our friends at Liberty, pure solutions, curio and others. It’s all of the Back to the Future. Scratch offs still have these. I will be having these for now, 17 crab cake tour stops this summer. I just announced another place, so I’m adding them. I’m getting all the dates located over the weekend. Everything will be out. We are starting things at faintly on Friday. We’ll be at the Y in Randallstown on Tuesday, celebrating Juneteenth with them, talking about the pool, talking about the summer, talking about all the things that the Y does, which we have done here many times. So be looking forward to seeing John Hoey and getting up to Randallstown as well. We’ll be at readers crab house on the 26th we’re going to be a Costas and Timonium in early July. We’re going to be at a 1623 brewing in Eldersburg next month as well. And there’s a rumor that deep Pasquale is even has a crab cake. And we’re going to be heading down there in July in Canton. This guy here was at the Oriole Park of Camden Yards on Tuesday night for yet another Oriole loss, the Detroit Tigers are in town. This generally means they’re going to have better pitching, amongst other things, than what the Orioles have. If you don’t have tickets on Thursday night, pay the extra money. Give Katie she needs the money. Give Katie Griggs the money and go see scuba pitch Luke. How are you last place baseball? It’s just sort of like what we’ve been doing the last 15 years, kind of, sort of, I just, I’m still in a little bit of a state of shock that the season’s kind of going away. I’m wondering why we’re talking about it, and who’s watching it and who’s engaged with it, the way they would be if the team was, I don’t know, 500 and not 15 games under,
Luke Jones 01:57
yeah. I mean, it’s, this is what happens when you fall 18 under in May. I mean, they’ve played better the last two and a half weeks. They had won nine of 11. They’ve now lost three of the last four. This is why I was talking about the A series being as disappointing as it was, because you had won nine and nine of 11, and the A’s had played woeful baseball for the three and a half weeks prior to that. And I also was looking ahead to say, hey, the Tigers are coming to town. They’re really good. They have the best record in baseball. You’re going to face school on Thursday night. It’s going to be really tough to win a series, let alone continue to be on the role that they were on. So, you know, obviously the enthusiasm, optimism that had tried to to build when you win nine of 11. I mean, they, they’ve still won 10 of their last 15. They, they’re playing better, but it’s a reminder of just how incredibly well they’re going to have to play for an extended period of time to really gain any traction. I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 03:00
what that team looks like, what a great team looks like. Sure that’s capable of knocking off 650, 700 baseball for a month or two. Yeah, just to do that for a month or two, you have to be really good, not lucky. I think they were lucky two summers ago. We talked about that every single night, winning one run games, doing statistically anomaly type stuff. Being that good is what the Yankees have been for 30 years. Being that like what the Dodgers have been in recent times, it’s not easy to do, and it really, really involves pitching as much as situational hitting and leaving guys on base. They can get better at that. Once you get 12 hits in a game and you strand guys, I’ll start to hear, well, something will fall in, but falling in isn’t pitching. Pitching is even when you have it, you don’t think you have it. Ask the Arizona Diamondbacks, yeah.
8Luke Jones 03:50
I mean, I’m still not going to go easy on their hitting, because their hitting has been woeful this year. I mean, the thing that you point to in that regard, and I agree with you,
Nestor Aparicio 04:00
and that’s what’s made them last place, instead of just bad, instead of being the Red Sox, but
Luke Jones 04:04
they’re, but they’re often, but their offense was supposed to be a lead, and their offense has been bottom seven in the, in the in baseball, right? I mean, it’s been completely unacceptable. So, I mean, we’ve talked about, it’s been a disaster. Six hits winning. What? A lot of games for six. Yeah, yeah. And hey, if you’re looking for a positive out of it. I mean, we actually saw Jackson holiday gets a hit off a lefty gunner, Henderson, who’s been really bad against left handed pitching this year, had that 10 pitch at bat that ended in an RBI single. But you know, just top the bottom and, you know, let’s not bury the lead the big news Tuesday, Jordan Westberg back in the lineup. Cedric Mullins, back in the lineup. Tyler O’Neill continues a rehab assignment at Norfolk. Looks like if he’s not back by the end of the home stand, he’ll be back for the start of the next road trip next week. They’re trying to get, I think they’re trying to get him some at bats, understanding he was playing with that neck slash shoulder issue for a while, right in the same way they did the same thing with Westberg. We. Wasn’t just like, hey, play one game in the minors and you’re good to go. Let let’s give you some at bats to start feeling better about yourself and get on a roll. But you looked at the lineup on Tuesday night, Roman or Ramon Laureano hitting cleanup aside, top to bottom, it’s probably as formidable as the lineup they’ve had on paper, maybe since opening day. You know, because you have cows are in there, you have Westberg in there, you have Mullins back in there. The 789, looked better than it’s looked on paper recently, but the results didn’t really show up on Tuesday night. And as we talked about, when they had one nine of 11, the starting pitching and the pitching in general had really been the driver, the driving force for that, Kate Povich, I mean, Tuesday was a perfect example of sometimes it’s a thin line between what can be a good start and something that completely gets away from you. And that’s exactly what happened to him. I mean, in the fourth inning there, he’s got two outs, nobody on gives up a double, and, you know, then RBI single after that, and then the fifth inning, same thing happens, two outs, nobody on at that point, it’s two to one, and you’re thinking, hey, this, this has been a perfectly fine, acceptable kind of start from Cade Povich, but gives up another two out double, bloop. Couple batters later. Spencer Torkelson hits a two run homer, and it’s five to one. He’s out of the ball game a batter later. So it’s a reminder of just how small that margin for error is, especially when you’re going up against a team like the Tigers, who it is amazing Nestor, and you still look at that team and there aren’t a ton of household names. I mean, of course, we’ll see school Thursday night, and I’m not taking anything away torkelson’s had a great year. I mean, obviously he’s a former top pick in the draft, but you still look at that Tigers team going back to last August, and it’s still like, How real is it, right? Because, because, on paper, you don’t recognize a ton of those names. They’re not household names yet. They’re really, really good. And Tuesday was another example of a game where, you know, they have an opener. It’s kind of a bullpen kind of game, and, well, it works for them, and they shut down the Orioles. And not that that’s any impressive feat in 2025 but a reminder of just how much the Tigers have going for them and just where the Orioles are right now, even with getting some guys back, it certainly didn’t materialize on Tuesday night, and as I’m working on right now at Baltimore positive.com can a more complete lineup start to live up to expectations for them? You know, regardless of what that means for any dream of getting back in the wild card race or anything, just the idea that you want to play better the rest of the way, didn’t really show up on Tuesday night. And, you know, they got a late home run from Jordan Westberg in the in the night that was good to see, but still an offensive effort that was lacking. And a start from Cade Povich, like I said, it started out looking pretty promising, but, you know, he just kind of unraveled. And this was his term, you know, this isn’t me saying this. He called it an outing. He said it was soft, is what it was, you know, giving up two out runs the way I did in the fourth and fifth inning. He was frustrated, and certainly a frustrating night for the Orioles yet again. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 08:16
8you, you like Povich, right? I mean, you, you’re, you’re of the mindset that this could get better. He could learn on the job at the big leagues, because, let’s be honest, dude, he would still be pitching in Norfolk at Bradish didn’t blow his arm, sure. Wells were here. If they had signed Corbin burns, he would be a number two starter at Norfolk, is what he Yeah, yeah. And, and let me be clear, when I don’t see hasn’t earned his way here. But this happened by accident.
Luke Jones 08:40
It has, I mean, he’s he has an era after Tuesday. His era is right around five and a half. Look, I’m not sitting here saying, Hey, Toby has future ace or number two or number three starter written on him. Let’s be very clear about that. You do see his ability to miss bats and strike people out. At times, he’s mixed in that change up effectively. There have been other times where he either hasn’t thrown it as effectively, or just doesn’t throw it enough. You know, there have been times where I’ve kind of wondered about that, even with him, not specifically Tuesday, but just in a general sense. But I mean, this is a kind of guy that he’s he’s learning on the job. And you know, when I say that I think there’s a the makings of a decent major league pitcher in there, you know, I don’t know what that means, right? Is it fifth starter? Is it eventually a swing man out of the bullpen? You know, kind of that what we thought the Albert Suarez role was going to be this year before he got hurt, you know, I don’t know. And that’s not to say that. I have the conviction to say he’s definitely going to figure it out. And you look at the final results, I mean, four and two thirds innings, you know, nine hits. I mean, he did, only walked one. You know, that wasn’t a major issue. I mean, the pitch count got up there a little bit even the first couple of winnings. He did throw a lot of pitches, but you see him at times look like he’s figuring. It out. I mean, had a good start against Seattle last week. You know, a team that’s played well overall. So you see the flashes, you see potential, you see the ability to strike some people out, but you know, the efficiency is still lacking. And again, what we saw on Tuesday night, I mean, that’s that’s just disappointing. You get two outs, nobody on. Get back into the dugout right get back in the dugout and turn it back over to your offense to get going. And, you know, I don’t know how much of it is. I don’t know if it’s a lack of focus. I don’t know if it’s just, you know, the idea that things unravel as they often do. I mean, we’ve talked about Dean Kramer unraveling at various times over the last three or four years, and he’s someone who, you know, has kind of been a kind of, sort of a league average starter the last three years, when you combine all the numbers. So, you know, I’m not ready to give up on Cade Povich by any stretch of the imagination, but what we saw on Tuesday night was, you know, that that can’t happen. I mean, again, you look at that start in the fourth inning, he’s on his way to having a good start, and it’s two outs and nobody on, and you give up a double to the number seven hitter, and then Javier Baez drives in a run. You know, same thing. Then in in the fifth inning, two outs, nobody on, granted, it’s the heart of the order, but you give up a double, you know, a Bloop, and then Torkelson hits a home run a batter later. And you know, a game that’s two to one is five to one, and you’re out, you know, you don’t even make it through five. So it can spiral really quickly. And it did for Cade Povich. But you know, a lot of this is what you just said, if all things had gone by design over the last I don’t want to say just this season, because the Bradish and Tyler wells injuries go back to early last year. But, you know, Cade povid would be a guy that isn’t just getting the ball every fifth day automatically. I mean, maybe at some point this year, if everyone had been healthy, maybe he’s forcing his way into the conversation as, like, say, the number five starter, but the way it profiles right now. I mean, yeah, he’s going to get the ball every fifth day, because what are your alternatives right now. I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 12:01
it’s just you guys whose arms hadn’t falled off, right? Sure, yeah. I mean, literally, and
Luke Jones 12:06
that’s part of this too, right? I mean, availability is part of this, yeah. I mean, it’s just, it’s way the way it is. I mean, even, even Zach Eflin, who was someone you were counting on to be available, missed a month. So, you know, Grayson Rodriguez still hasn’t thrown a pitch. He’s still somewhere in the early stages of a throwing progression. So, I mean, it’s, it’s a big reason why the Orioles are in last place, right? I mean, they’re obviously, I’ve, I have beat up the offense much more because of expectations. We had questions and concerns about this pitching staff long before Grayson Rodriguez situation and Eflin missing a month and Albert Suarez being on the 60 day il I mean, just go down the list. I mean, you know, and obviously the Bradish and Tyler wells injuries, uh, you know, pre or pre existing situations for them. So, you know, you tell me the pitching is this bad, you know, back when you and I were at Pizza, John’s talking to Dave shining, who, by the way, was at the ballpark on Tuesday, the real Dave shine, yeah, yeah, I actually think he was there shining. I think he was actually there to talk to the Tigers. Because I didn’t see him, you know, I didn’t see him in the Orioles clubhouse, but I did see him.
8Nestor Aparicio 13:19
Said The Washington Post what with the Orioles? Ain’t no news here. I
Luke Jones 13:23
mean, it’s no good news anyway, right? I mean, other than these guys, baseball
Nestor Aparicio 13:28
team down there is your team doing shining as your team doing
Luke Jones 13:33
8so, yeah, but, but it’s just ain’t no good neither. I mean, it’s us. It’s much of the same, right? Tuesday was much of the same. I mean, the lineup looked better on paper, but it’s got to start performing. And it’s the one thing I kind of said, even when they won nine of 11, go look at the run scored per game over that stretch, nearly identical to what their season runs per game average has been. So I mean, it’s they’ve got to score runs. They’ve got to hit the ball. We, we were talking about that back in spring training, and they haven’t done that. Now, the injuries piled up on the offensive side as well, the position side as well. That’s that’s part of it. But I can’t sit here and say, You just use that as an excuse for everything, as Bucha Walter would say, that would be convenient if you wanted to to go that direction. They haven’t been good enough and after a stretch of nine of 11, which, at this point we’ll see. But even bad, teams win nine of 11, typically at some point over the course of a season. Well, I’m
Nestor Aparicio 14:35
wondering if they’re, if they’re gonna win six in a row again, yeah, that’s probably, I think, but that’s very difficult to do. It is for a week when you don’t have to get better. I would agree. I I’m with you, westburg. Should you know I was going to talk about westburg with you and what that could mean for them, but, but that six game winning like that’s might be the only one this year, and I’m willing to to live. With that, and I’m also willing to live with this. It is the team circles the drain and continues to lose these games. They’re going to lose the scuba on Thursday. We’re going to get together on Friday and a fade leads, and they’re going to do what they do. There is going to come very soon, like all star games in four weeks, and then the trading deadline, right? Like the August 3 King Povich might be your number one starter. You know what I mean, like, if Elias does to this, what I think he’s going to do to this, which is not going to make Katie Griggs happy about selling tickets. Or, you know, Mr. Rubenstein, this is the way the games played. He doesn’t know, you know, baseball, Michigan, bibble, like, this is the way we play this. We deal off everybody you’ve heard of to get more Cade publishes and more Tyler Brad bradishes and cop radish and more Tyler wells more young pitching, they’re going to be deals made, and the team probably won’t be as good in August as it is today. Maybe hitting wise, the young players that we’re talking about that need to seed, whether it’s mayo, whether kerstack comes back, whatever that would be. But I keep thinking this is going to be a diminished team in August. It’s going to be worse than it is in June, to some degree, to some degree, maybe it’s not. If Henderson’s hitting 392 in August, right? I mean, which is possible for all of them, they’ll win some games. But I have a feeling this is going to be a diminished team in six, seven weeks. Yeah.
Luke Jones 16:24
I mean, I think it’s tough to argue otherwise. How diminished? I mean, I still look at a lot of these guys, and I just question, what are you really going to get that’s really going to make you better for next year, for 2027 you know, these aren’t, you know, there’s not a manny Machado that you’re dealing right? And maybe that’s a bad example, because the Orioles waited a year, year and a half too long, to deal Machado if that was going to be the outcome, rather than than extending him. But, you know, I, I think there’s still something to be said when you kind of figure out, okay, where are you going to be next year. Are you viewing this as a more extreme kind of tear down? And obviously, I’m not saying a 2018 like tear down, because that thing had already burned to the ground anyway. But you know, are you looking at this thing in terms of getting back on track in 2026 Where does Elias stand with ownership? Right? I mean, these are complicated questions, but I think you also do have to take into account when you are talking about guys that are on expiring deals. One, do you have some interest in resigning them? Two, where, what’s the value for them in a trade? And also keep in mind the qualifying offer system, where, if you make a qualifying offer, one, do they accept it and come back on a one year deal or two, do they decline? And then you have a compensatory pick. You know, you have draft compensation. I think you have to factor in, what is the value of that pick, as opposed to what potential prospects, prospect you might get for any of these guys in a given deal. So, so I think it there’s more nuance here than just your run of the mill bad team that you’re selling off anything that’s not bolted to the floor, right? I mean, well, they’re
Nestor Aparicio 18:10
not getting anything for Ryan mountcastle, right? I mean, some of these pieces that we’ve talked about for years, we talked about Austin Hayes this time last year. What are they going to get? What are they really going to get from Mullins? What? I mean, who are the candidates here? Well, I mean, effluents got to get dealt, right? Chicanos probably going to get dealt. But do they be dealt? Do
8Luke Jones 18:27
they have to, though? I mean, because I would argue, and of course, I need to see Zach Eflin look like Zach continue to look like Zach Eflin. He had the two rough starts coming off the, you know, off the IL Not long ago, but I’m not sure Zach Evelyn isn’t something I someone I wouldn’t be interested in resigning to. I don’t know, a two year deal, three year deal, right? I mean, not for crazy money. Well, if
Nestor Aparicio 18:51
they’re going to be any good, he would look much better on their staff on opening day than trying to replace but this,
Luke Jones 18:55
but this is, but that’s my point, Nestor of what I’m talking about here, that I’m not just trading everybody just for the sake of doing it. I need to see what I’m getting now, if some team really, really wants Zach Heflin, and to your point, they’re going to give you, you know, whether it’s Kay Povich or, you know, Kyle Bradish, like, again, it’s, it’s tough to say. And, and let’s be clear, none of these guys are fetching you prospects that are, you know, top 25 on the top 100 prospect list. I mean, they don’t have any commodities like that. So what are you getting, you know what? What are you getting? Lottery tickets, you know, low, you know, 18 year old Dominican prospects, you know what, which is, you know, if Charlie Morton pitches well for the next month and you pay off some of his salary. Could you get a couple lottery ticket types? I mean, I guess maybe, but, but that’s my thing. Like, where are you? What are you trying to accomplish next year? How much do you How much work do you need to do to this roster with. With free agency and trades, right? So it’s tough for me to answer that, yes, I fully expect some trades to be made, but if you completely gut this thing, then what are the expectations next year? Because we’re already talking about them not having enough starting pitching. So if you automatically just deal Eflin and Sagano. Well, I mean, you’re gonna go, you’re gonna what? You’re gonna sign three pitchers this off season. I mean, I don’t know. So you know, of course, people could make the argument, well, you can deal efflyn, or you could deal Sagano and try to re sign them in the off season, if their new team would be a rental. And I’ll hear that. But my point in saying all that is there is some nuance here. There are some considerations here where it’s more than just trade or not trade. It’s trade. It’s not trade. It’s are you giving that guy a qualifying offer? Are you going to try to resign that individual if it’s someone that you feel can be of value to you in 2026 and by the way, if that’s the scenario, you should be talking to some of those guys, those guys agents, right now, right? I mean, if you’re Mike Elias, so I don’t know, man, well, you’re still running the team for now, for now, at least, right? I mean, until we hear otherwise. I mean, that’s that, that’s the story, right? I mean, we, we haven’t heard from ownership. We haven’t heard from Elias since his, you know, his scrum that he did in front of a few reporters in Milwaukee? Well,
Nestor Aparicio 21:22
8they’re also good enough that they’re not drafting one or three or five, and that’s part of the right so that’s another part of this. Even talking about the draft doesn’t there’s, there’s no juice in that for you and I to talk about who they’re going to pick in 20s,
Luke Jones 21:33
and even understanding that now that you have more, you know, you don’t have a straight system of you just tank for the number one pick, not that, you know, not that they are going to be in that category anyway. I think the Rockies have that covered at this point. But you just, you have to look at this thing, and kind of, I think there’s some picking
Nestor Aparicio 21:53
19th, by the way, that night, yeah, yeah. And by the way,
Luke Jones 21:56
they do have a couple other picks, you know, not long after that, so that that’s that’s good for three or four years down the road, but that’s not doing anything for you next year. So, so my point with that is not that they’re not going to make trades. They’re going to make trades. I think that’s obvious at this point in time, but who exactly is someone that is going to carry the value that makes it make sense, and whose value is a little more questionable, where you say, All right, we can get this return at the trade deadline, or we can make that individual qualifying offer. They might take it, and if they take it, then you have that player on a one year deal. Or if they don’t take it, you’re looking at a likely draft pick for that individual and that draft pick, depending on what the offer is at the trade deadline, that draft pick might have comp, very comparable value, in some cases, could have better value. I mean, we also know, and you know, going back to 2018 we saw this, we know that teams like to hold on to their prospects, right? And that’s something that Mike Elias has been criticized for, right? And understandably so.
8Nestor Aparicio 23:05
Hey, he could have had scuba this time last year for holiday, if you want to make that deal. Yeah.
Luke Jones 23:09
I mean, I still don’t know if the Tigers really would have done it, but at obviously, it was a non starter, unless Jackson holiday was going to be thrown in there. And look,
Nestor Aparicio 23:19
I had Lynn Henning on about Africa. We played in Detroit, and he was absolutely like, he’s like, scuba was available, but you had to give your guy you had, right? It was going to be a Westberg, a holiday. Was going to be a real and more and more Right, exactly, and a couple of cadepos. So that’s where you look at it. And
Luke Jones 23:38
8look, would scuba be phenomenal at the top of the Orioles rotation right now? Yeah, problem is, they’re more than a school
Speaker 1 23:47
away from how they currently look, so I don’t know. I mean, you’re gonna be a scuba snack on Thursday. Yeah, it’s good, but it’s gonna be fascinating. Again. I know I’m sounding wishy washy talking about the trade deadline, and I fully expect some deals to be made, but I do think there’s a little more nuance to this, because you are talking about a team that I think, but Mike Elias right now is viewing this in through a lens of 2025 as a disaster, obviously, but still has some conviction that things can be back on Track next year, and but how do you go about doing that? And I don’t know if it’s necessarily trading everything that you can trade at the trade deadline and then thinking that you’re going to be able to have the kind of fruitful off season to make up for all that. So like I said, is there one or two individuals out of that group of guys that could be dealt that you might try to resign, or you might say, hey, we’ll do the qualifying offer and see how that goes. But you know, Cedric motor, see where the Enrique Bradfords are right? Like, you know the names that Bradfield did? Brad, Brad Yeah, excuse me, yeah, it’s okay. Hit 234 you know, like it double A and, oh, he had a decent year last year. Thing. For all these minor league guys, they move up. So it’s kind of, you look at their their stats, and you don’t know where they are, but I remember, I’m like, Hey, what happened to that kid they drafted a couple years ago? Because it’s the first time I’ve, I’ve, I said Bradford. That’s how little we’ve talked about in Bradfield.
Nestor Aparicio 25:13
Oh, and
Luke Jones 25:14
keep in mind he wasn’t like a top three pick, or, you know that? That’s when they were picking first race,
8Nestor Aparicio 25:18
17th overall. So if they’re short 19th this year, that’s what you’re getting, well, and
Luke Jones 25:22
the problem, what really hurt him is he had a hamstring injury earlier in the year. I mean, that’s that, and that was, that was unfortunate. I mean, it’s another injury, right? We haven’t talked about it a whole lot. Nestor, their minor league system has had a bad year too. I mean, it’s wild. I know you and I have talked about this so many times, and I don’t want to belabor the point, but belabor the point, but I’m still at a loss for it’s almost like a light switch got flipped in late June last year, and just how much has gone wrong since whole thing went to hell. Luca, yeah. I mean, you know, I know you say that sounded funny, but like it kind of has right? I mean, it feels that way, right? I mean the young core, the pitching injuries, the position player injuries, the minor leagues not looking as good. I mean, all of it, and I don’t look Mike Elias, has to be accountable. Brandon Hyde’s already been accountable and been shown the door. But there’s also been a lot that’s happened that I don’t know how you could have predicted that certain things
Nestor Aparicio 26:23
to go baseball is about bad luck and good luck. I mean, so, I mean, they’ve years in, they’ve
Luke Jones 26:27
8done, they’ve made, they’ve had missteps. There’s no doubt about it, but there’s also been a lot that it’s gone wrong, that I’m sitting here like, unless you think Mike Elias is like a fortune teller, or any general managers of a fortune teller, there’s also been things that have gone wrong that I would not have anticipated. So that’s not to it’s not to absolve him by any stretch of the imagination. But either way, his decisions haven’t worked out there. It hasn’t. I mean, you know, a couple have, you know, Sagano worked out great. I mean, you know, think that one worked out really well. Charlie Morton, not so much. Kyle Gibson, which, again, was a late spring kind of trying to account for where they were health wise, didn’t
Nestor Aparicio 27:09
work out at all. You’re also judging these things in a eight week thing. I mean, the Rogers kid, if he comes out and wins 15 games next year and gets back in the rotation, you’ll you’ll look at that differently, and you’re also going to judge him based on these young players that, quite frankly, I I’m guessing he won’t be around, because new ownership is going to be very, very upset about last place and upset about their earnings and upset about their you know, the ledger sheet at the end of the year that they didn’t sell any tickets and they’re not making any money, and they went through All Greg Bader worked all off season to get, you know, the streaming launch, and nobody’s buying it, because the team stinks. So you know that we’ll get on that day by day. Looks at the ballpark. Luke is out, knowing Mills, there are OTAs this week. Mandatories are next week. We hope Lamar shows up next week. By the way, the thing with Lamar and money and and having a reporting bonus and him just showing that. It’s amazing, right? It’s amazing how little value three quarters of million dollars has when you have 200 million in
Luke Jones 28:11
a bank, right? Yeah. I mean, sounds good to me. I mean, I’ll show up at OTAs for that
Nestor Aparicio 28:16
quarter million a week just to show up and
8Luke Jones 28:18
walk around. Yeah. I mean, it’s you think money
Nestor Aparicio 28:23
hasn’t changed. Lamar Jackson, I mean, seriously, like, all he wanted, I want to play, I want to play, I want to play. I want to play. I want to practice. I need to practice it. I mean, that’s the stink of this. Like, if for you to take the other side. Last week, I’m still scratching my head and saying, I just these are, these are team organized activities. They’re, they’re like, voluntary, voluntary. So voluntary that we’re going to pay you three, three voluntary $1,000 a week, voluntary,
Luke Jones 28:50
and he’s the best quarterback in the league in the regular season the last two years. Well, I mean, if you can tell me, why
Nestor Aparicio 28:56
8would I tell you this right now? If I were him, I what’s the direction to leave any of the money on his side of the fence. You want to get all the Bucha his money come out here fire and file your nails on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and walk around and you eat some of the fruit and wave to your teammates. And you know
Luke Jones 29:12
you’re really miss categorizing what I what I’ve said. I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal. I don’t that’s what I’m I think it’s
Nestor Aparicio 29:19
an excused absence in your mind. And to me, there’s no just don’t think there’s absence 750 $1,000 that they put in there as the poison pill to say, Look, dude, we really we want you here in June. The coach wants you here in June. The coach wants you here in June. So much that he was ish talking you on text to a media member this time two years ago for not showing up. So I think this as a management decision. When Bucha D and Harbaugh and the Costa saw that this kid didn’t want to come in and practice this time of the year, they they put together a look. We need to get him here. We need to make sure that we get him here. Let’s put something in the contract. Act. It’ll get him here. That’s enough money. It’ll get him here. Hey, Lamar, if you put 750 in, will you come? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll be there coach. And then he’s not there. I’m sure he agreed to be there this time of year. I’m sure he had a handshake, because I’m sure they wouldn’t have given him two $50 million and said stay home in June. I just don’t think that’s possible. I so I don’t want to be labored again because he’ll be out there running around next week, but it’s an amazing thing that they put this much money on the table to try to get him in. And that’s how much he doesn’t want to be there, whether it’s to be a prick, whether it’s to be a union guy, whether it’s because he’s bored, whether it’s because he doesn’t want to get whatever it is, whether he’s out speeding race cars on 75 and whatever he’s doing, what is more important than football to John Harbaugh or to anybody else out there. Now, the Bucha, it’s not life and death. It’s not life and death to me. It is the it is to him, you know, the guy I pay 15 million a year to coach this thing, you know so but it’s, it’s life and death to everybody out there, right? You’re out there. It’s the reason they threw me out, because I wasn’t serious enough for Chad Steele, like It’s life and death out there it is for John. So when the quarterback doesn’t show up, and they’re paying him that kind of money to show up, it’s it’s something to be talked about, and it’s not particularly good I don’t it’s not a good look. It’s not you. And I argue it’s not a good look.
Luke Jones 31:19
Oh yeah, sure. But I also think it’s because we’re talking about it in June, and we forget about OTAs in a month, and we’re certainly not talking at all about OTAs come training camp and and the season and and then we’re reminded
8Nestor Aparicio 31:33
talked about a little bit when they were oh and two to start to see last year, because that’s what fans do. And I’m not being a jerk fan. I just being a person that runs a business sure likes to have everybody on the team, especially my leaders, fair enough, you know, especially the ones I’m paying. I’m paying a salary against anybody else. I’m not show up, and he’s not showing up.
Luke Jones 31:53
I’m not arguing that John Harbaugh and the organization doesn’t want him there. Of course they do. You’ve
Nestor Aparicio 31:58
seen the ball flopping around there this week and trying to get something done right? Something done, right? Sure. But I also
Luke Jones 32:04
8see he’s going to come in and look phenomenal, and he’s going to be fantastic in training camp, and he’s going to be fantastic in the regular season again, and we’re going to see about January, right? I just
Nestor Aparicio 32:16
keep $750,000
Luke Jones 32:19
from So sure, sure. I mean, I again, what would I like to see him there? Sure? I just don’t think it’s that big of it, like, I don’t think it’s something that has any truly consequential impact on how they’re going to play in 2025 I just don’t care. That’s, that’s my point. If you want to, you know, if you want to think it’s a big thing.
Nestor Aparicio 32:39
I’m arguing with my 12 year old kid about whether making the bed is a good idea. Doesn’t matter whether you make your bed or not, you’re laying it nobody, but you still, you do what you do because it’s what you do. You know, that’s all
8Luke Jones 32:53
okay. So, so we so we do it, because that’s the way we’ve always done it. So that’s the argument.
Nestor Aparicio 32:59
I mean, like, seriously, that’s what you’re telling me. You analytics nerds, I tell you why. Just, I just, again, all this bad baseball is making us across. I just, I just don’t
Luke Jones 33:08
think it’s that big of a deal. Like, I don’t Okay. I don’t think what’s happening right now. I think Lamar is going to come in and he’s going to look great, because he looked great at the one OTA that he was at. I mean, throw Pat, just dropping passes in the bucket all over the field, and they’re going to be happy that he’s in and, yeah, they’re annoyed. I’m not I’m not disputing that at all. And I’m not disputing the idea that, yeah, you’d like
Nestor Aparicio 33:35
a year and you’re the leader. Why do you annoy your bosses, especially when they’re willing to pay you to pay you the show. I mean it because they’re going to ask Lamar Jackson about where the hell he was this week when you’re out of practice. So and again, I’ll remind our listeners that I got thrown out of their building for not attending OTAs. So that was the excuse used. I didn’t attend enough OTAs. Luke Jones is here. He is Baltimore. Luke. He is attending OTAs. He is attending Orioles games, and he’ll be out there to watch Jared. Jared Scoob will Tariq Scoble, excuse me, why do I call him Jared? I don’t know why that is. He looks like a Jared. Maybe it’s left handed. I don’t know. Therese Google or Tariq school, we should say. And Luke will be out there. The Tigers are in town this weekend. We will be at fade leaves on Friday. The angels in town, the halos still trying to figure it out. Don’t even have Otani anymore. Back to the Future scratch offs. We’ll have them at fade. Also have some fried oysters. Have some steamed shrimp, some some crab cakes as well. Because it’s Friday and the weather has gotten better, which I’m very happy about. He’s Luke. I’m Nestor. We’re watching baseball. We’re watching football. None of it’s good right now. We’re wnsda in 15 70,000 Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive. You.
