Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the potential beanball war brewing between the Orioles and Yankees as the Birds beat Yankees in The Bronx in a wild one on Wednesday night. Join the pair together today for the 4 p.m. rubber match as they do the Maryland Crab Cake Tour and watch the Yankee Stadium finale from the bar at Costas Inn in Dundalk all afternoon.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
craig kimbrel, point, yankees, year, game, rubenstein, ninth inning, pitcher, bullpen, orioles, good, pitch, throwing, kimbrel, burns, trade, kyle, season, wednesday night, talking
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home we are wn st am 1570 tastic Baltimore. Baltimore positive we’re positively going to be taking the show on the road we’re gonna have a fun time it’s gonna be Orioles Yankees, the rubber match. We’re gonna be Costas at four o’clock today. If you’re hearing this if you’re hearing this tomorrow, we’re not going to be there. They were there yesterday. It is a big weekend a baseball bat Berger had down to Houston. Certainly everybody on their screens on Wednesday night. I’ve called this I made a mistake of calling it what I call a crucial key must when I call that something really piss Luke off on when it’s just a series of June and if you blow a five to one lead late in the game, let’s do especially if you win an extra innings look, Jones joins us now. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. I have scratch offs that double rush sevens doublers will have at cost this on Thursday. We’ll also have our friends with Jiffy Lube, multi care, as well as Liberty pure solutions putting us back on the road on Tuesday. We’ll be at Pappas in Parkville long baseball games that it’s had that late starting time of 705 keeping us up late and playing extra innings How dare they blow it lead like that in the Bronx and scare everyone? And by the way, how dare the Yankees toward our best players and how dare they’re not be abroad and I sat here yesterday for 45 minutes it predicted a brawl and the orange the only reason there wasn’t a brawl was because the Orioles didn’t want one. That’s a
8
Luke Jones 01:26
fact. Because the Orioles are grownups. I mean, fair enough, the Yankees lead the American League and hit by pitch. Look how many Orioles they’ve hit since the season series began.
Nestor J. Aparicio 01:38
When do you do something about it as the baseball team I’m not calling for they
Luke Jones 01:42
did they beat they beat? That’s how you do. I mean, you’re speaking in the old school of throwing objects that can alter people’s careers.
Nestor J. Aparicio 01:52
8I’m speaking in the way that it always has worked and the way that has it. If Jim Palmer was there, it’s the way he would have been thinking about it, but okay, that’s just the way how many guys you’re gonna let him plunk I mean, I’m not speaking as the brawler. I’m usually in your seat. I’m just saying I’m shocked that it didn’t didn’t come to that when you’re throwing that are phenom. That’s all that’s
Luke Jones 02:12
I mean, well, but I’m gonna I’m going back to just the soft reaction from the Yankees about Aaron judge being hit acting like Albert Suarez who walked five guys that night. Who got ahead oh two on orange or on Aaron judge who did not hit one soda the batter before? Who was the one who did the most suspicious thing of all on Tuesday night running into Jordan Westberg on a random grounder. I mean, dude, I’m
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:36
not with locking for on Twitter on this because JT the brick and he were fighting because he’s uh, yeah, the other night. I’m not the guy for the fights. I’m for the you are throwing a gunner head. These were those were purpose pitches on Wednesday night. Those were they were designed to hit our player. I agree with you that Aaron
Luke Jones 02:55
joy, I’m just okay. But then so you retaliate. And then there’s a brawl and then you get guys suspended? And then you’re pitching? Who knows? You might lose some other pitchers, then you’re already losing pitchers. I mean, I
8Nestor J. Aparicio 03:07
just I think it’d be amazing if thought on that. I think they’re being babies about it. I
Luke Jones 03:12
mean, like, it’s that simple. So you can either you can, you know, they go low, you go lower. Okay, what does that solve? I mean, they beat them. If they wait
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:21
19 times a year there definitely be trouble down the line. They might be able to get out of there by seven o’clock tonight and forget about it. But I don’t I don’t think these guys ever forget about its baseball. Oh,
Luke Jones 03:30
8I mean, I’m not denying that there. There won’t be more to the story at some point. I mean, I think that’s absolutely a distinct possibility if not a very likely possibility but like I said,
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:41
they fight throw back at their heads. Like you know, like I that’s baseball. And that’s what happens when pitchers don’t bat too, by the way that that’s part and parcel. We’ll come back to Drysdale and Gibson with that. Fair enough. But
Luke Jones 03:53
I’ll still go back to I look at Juan Soto as being the guiltiest of all in this series as far as anything we saw I think him running into Jordan Westberg was way more suspicious than anything else that happened
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:06
started the whole staredown three months ago which is where the whole thing started again. So so running the guy over was part of that’s that’s my stare that’s my much much my Latino my mommy go cheese small. You know, it’s all of that like showed Yes. There’s no question about that.
8Luke Jones 04:21
I mean, I just you know, and there’s no question there’s bad
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:23
blood. And for you We did talk about the baseball game we will and Kimbrel and all that but the bad blood is going to supersede any of this given the stakes of the season. It’s different when Armando Benitez is fighting with Tino Martinez five years after their you know, what wasn’t five years but it was the year after Yeah, good teams and bad teams. These are both really good teams. And when it’s a good team and a bad team, it’s it’s different if you’re throwing at the 118 loss Orioles than if you’re throwing at the 100 win or one on one when Orioles
Luke Jones 04:55
Yeah, I mean not the way I view it at this point in time and look if the Yankees The Yankees want to fight. There’s going to be a fight at some point. But the way I view it is okay, you threw a gun or you’re mad about Aaron judge the previous night. Look, he’s okay. He’s gonna be okay. He missed Wednesday’s game, but it seems like there’s a chance he could play. At some point in the next couple of days, it’s not going to be a long term absence. You hit gunner. Right. It’s over that. Right. Can we move forward as grown ups? You know, and they had Couser? That was that one? I don’t think that one was remotely. It. That would have made no sense if that one’s on purpose. The gunner Anderson one. Yeah. You know, at that point in time, what it was four to 152421 going on five, the one getting relatively late in the game. And by the way, that run ended up being pretty big. Right. So I don’t think the cows are one. I think that was legitimately. I don’t think either way. Yeah. Because the game situation, that made zero sense then, just like I was talking about how the previous night, you got to head over to on Aaron, Judge, you’re not trying to hit him. You’re trying to get him out at that point. Suarez kept walking people he didn’t have his good command. Anyway, the thing I wanted to talk about, because that will be there. And look, we can sit here and speculate about it for an hour and the ESPN talking head shows of the sports world. We’ll talk about that because it’s juicy, mindless content, quite frankly, in my opinion. But I think Wednesday will turn out to be a very significant inflection point in this season, in a few different ways. One big win for the Orioles. Right? We were talking about this. We talked about this going into the series. The one outcome that the Orioles couldn’t afford, even though certainly not going to sit here and say the division race is over if you’re swept but you don’t want to be in that position where you lose three straight. And you’re now in a position where the Yankees are really starting to open up some space in the alley. So that’s one point. Second point, and we talked about this, generally speaking as far as the expectation, but Michael is speaking at Yankee Stadium prior to Wednesday’s game. Kyle Bradish has undergone Tommy John surgery out for the year out for probably most of next year, I think a best case scenario. And you can actually look at a very similar timeline, Jacob deGrom of the Texas Rangers underwent Tommy John surgery right around this time last year. He is hoping for an August return. You know, that’s kind of the hope for him. August maybe September. That’s what we’re looking at with Kyle Bradish at this point in time. So we were talking about the starting rotation already. This wasn’t shocking. This felt inevitable. From the time Friday night happened and certainly when he went on the aisle on Saturday. But official, Kyle Bradish out for the season. They need another starting pitcher. We can sit here and debate who it’s going to be what, what level of quality is it going to be a number one? No. And
Nestor J. Aparicio 07:53
8it’s not Kate Povich in your mind. Well, I
Luke Jones 07:56
mean, I think Kate Povich can be part of the solution. And look, this isn’t just we need to stop thinking about this solely in terms of October because you need to navigate the season to get right. It’s like we could say well, Suarez Ervin,
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:07
and we’ll figure this kid out as hard as that is for a month or two. But then somebody else is going to tweet something and Cramer is gonna come back I mean, Cramer sighs weekend so Right,
Luke Jones 08:16
right. So but but this goes back to what you were saying in terms of looking through the lens of who’s your number three starter in October. And we’re making the assumption that Corbin Burns is okay, the rest of the way that Grayson Rodriguez is okay, the rest of the way get and these are the assumptions every team makes. So that’s what he’s doing. There’s a lot of baseball left. And that’s the thing Gerrit Cole just came back great for the Yankees, right? But is Garrett Cole gonna be okay? Are his elbow injury issues completely behind him. So there’s always that but with the finality of Bradish. Now, knowing he’s not going to be back, also understanding what I just said Nestor, you need to be thinking in terms of next year to if we’re working under the assumption right now. And I’m going to until I see ownership, spend any money, and let alone talking about how I’ve acknowledged that it’s a very slippery slope, trying to give any pitcher of that ilk, the kind of contract that Corbin Burns is going to command and whether that’s a good long term investment, regardless of what your payroll is, you know, that’s that’s a debate. You know, that’s the debate. That’s a fair question. So somebody says hitch, this isn’t just Kyle Bradish missing next year. This is also also thinking about the future of Corbin Bernsen whether he’s going to be here next year, so
8Nestor J. Aparicio 09:27
you’re number one starter next year is a great shadow box right now for April for of next year, right.
Luke Jones 09:33
I mean, organizationally, by default, it would be Grayson Rodriguez, which look great for you guys is really good. It still has more meat on the bone in terms of upside, but you’ve got to have more than that even if he becomes a bonafide one. You still need someone that’s gonna be a heck of a number two, right. So I think this trade deadline isn’t just about the rest of 2024. I think it’s Can you acquire the kind of pitcher of that ilk that could slot into the top two or three Lots of your rotation, who’s also under club control for next year? You know, I think that becomes much more relevant now. And again, that talking point was there. But But now with the bigger trend your trade price tag, too, right?
Nestor J. Aparicio 10:13
If you’re looking to shop somewhere that’s going to cost you another Ortiz, it’s gonna cost you a real player. Yeah.
Luke Jones 10:19
8And look, I mean, and we could debate whether that was going to be what they should do anyway. Because again, not knowing if Corbin Burns is going to be here and the likelihood that he probably isn’t right, just knowing how these things typically work. So So you have that. So that’s my other point. Other thing, daddy coulomb bone chips in his elbow removed. It sounds like they’re optimistic he can be backed by September, but that doesn’t leave you much wiggle room in terms of any kind of a minor setback, any issue that he might have just in rehabbing. I mean, if you remember, John means last year, had a back issue creep up during his long term elbow rehab, just because hey, you still need to work other parts of your body and things happen. So I think between that, and that what we saw from Craig Kimbrel. On Wednesday night, I’ve talked about this a little bit in passing. I mentioned this on social media, as the ninth inning was going on Wednesday night, Craig Kimbrel. Now is over four and save situations where he is entered with one run lead. Think about that we are almost to July. And Craig Kimbrel does not have a one run save under his belt that that he has won technically, it’s when he went went into the game in Anaheim. And he had a two run lead. Now, it was an unearned run. It wasn’t his fault. But he entered that game with a two run lead that is his only one run save all year. Now what does that mean? Doesn’t mean Craig Kimbrel stinks? Craig Kimbrel doesn’t stink people need to, we need to understand there’s a range of outcomes here, right? There’s a range of outcomes between being what Felix Batista was pre injury last year, which is as good as it gets. And Craig Kimbrel, what he was for that two week period earlier this season, where it was kind of a disaster, right? So he’s been pretty good, right? He’s been really good at times. But I continue to see someone who, to me screams more of a situational closer. And what I mean by that is when the elements are more favorable, meaning he has a two or three run lead, and he’s not pitching three times in four days, you know, looking at it through that lens, if the elements if the conditions are more favorable, Craig Kimbrel is done a good job this year. But at some point in time, you’re going to be playing more one run games, you know, it just it’s inevitable, right, they haven’t played quite as many that haven’t been quite as frequent as far as one run games go. So he hasn’t been tested as much in that way. And that’s a testament to the club, and their overall quality. But my point, and this is why I’ve kind of been saying this and you and I’ve debated this going all the way back to spring training that I’ve felt all along that they’re going to need another high leverage arm with either closer experience, or that kind of an ability, that when it’s a really tight game that you feel really good about that guy. And it doesn’t mean that Craig Kimbrel is demoted. And by the way, that’s not Cano we thought that might have no, no I don’t we thought that was Cano in spring training. Like that would be the other guy. Right. If anything happened at Campbell, I
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:17
don’t think we feel that we feel differently about Cano this June than we did last year.
Luke Jones 13:21
I mean, it’s just and and Wednesday was another example when he comes into the game with guys on base. And look, I understand ideally, for anyone, it’s going to be better when you start with a clean ending, right. But that’s not reality. Setting any any. I mean, at some point, exactly right. If you’re gonna pitch in extra innings, especially in this day and age, at least, you know, October doesn’t have that rule, but regular season does. But I’ve said this for a while now, look, this bullpen is is good that we can’t ignore the numbers. They’ve gotten the job done. They’ve done a really good job considering some of the challenges they’ve had, namely, Felix Batista, not walking through that door for the entire season. But I’ve said this, I’ve made this point to you at a few different points. I look at everyone in this bullpen and I feel like everyone would be better if they were slotted one spot or two spots lower than what they are in the pecking order right now. What I mean by that is, you know, your Cano I’d feel much better about if he’s more seventh slash eighth inning guy than eighth slash ninth inning guy, Craig Kimbrel. I’m not even saying I would take Craig Kimbrel out of the closer’s role, you know how I I’m non traditional when it comes to a close, right. And maybe that means I’m traditional, because I’m thinking about it more through the lens of how things used to be years and years and years ago. And what I mean by that is, you know, I don’t need Craig Kimbrel to be my automatic no questions asked, he pitches the ninth inning, every save situation kind of guy. I’d really like to find another guy that kind of makes whoever the new guy would be one and one A in terms of that guy and Kimbrel and Kimbrough. We’d get some saves situations. But if it’s a one run game and the heart of the owners do up for the opposition, I might pick on with the other guy because he has a little more consistency a little more upside at this point. Maybe he’s younger, presumably, I don’t know, you’re also going
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:14
to be playing back to back nights a second night, you’d never bring a better option. And that would make him better.
8Luke Jones 15:20
Right, right. I mean, that’s the whole thing. This whole thing is about if you can bump everyone down one spot in the pecking order and I’m I’m talking through the lens of
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:29
Batista replacement that’s not always there, but better than Kimbrough.
Luke Jones 15:32
Easier said than done though. And that’s part of the challenge that Mike Elias faces. That’s why he spent the money on Craig Kimbrel to begin with, because it’s like okay, who are you going to bring in you know that Craig Kimbrel or not Craig Kimbrel Felix Batista. There aren’t many guys out there like him and we could talk about Mason Miller, you know, oaklins reliever and a few other guys here and there, but what’s the cost going to be?
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:55
8And that’s going to be an interesting bidding war when the shotguns because the Orioles aren’t the only ones that need this help. Right.
Luke Jones 16:01
And, and that’s the you just said it. I mean, everyone needs bullpen out. Everyone, everyone could use more arms in the bullpen. I mean, the Yankees who have a really good bullpen would absolutely take another bullpen arm Cleveland who has an excellent bullpen would absolutely take another bullpen arm. So that’s where this is challenging. And that’s where you look at it. But I think Wednesday and I just I gave you a multipronged explanation for why I feel Wednesday could be such a turning point, I’ll throw another one out there. And this is more of a big picture issue that you and I will talk about more and more. We’ve talked about it in passing. But at some point in time, especially with what we’re seeing now, knowing that Bradish done for the year, John means done for the year, Tyler wells done for the year and all those guys, including means and obviously means is a pending free agents. So that’s a little bit of a different argument. But they’re all going to miss at least a portion of next year as well. So I’m looking at ownership at this point in time. And why I’m looking at ownership is saying, Mike Elias and this front office has reached an inflection point, we talked about this a little bit last year at the trade deadline, and we talked about it at some point in time, they’re going to need to start spending more money. And whether it’s talking about keeping their own players, whether it’s talking about augmenting this club. And what I mean by this is, yes, you’re going to have to trade prospects and yes, you might have to trade a couple more prospects than you were hoping to have to trade three take on salary. Well, that’s that’s the big part of this though. I want to see ownership. And I’m talking about David Rubenstein here I’m talking about this new we have a long
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:38
history going back to Craig Lefferts and Lonnie Smith. Dude, I can go back into the Wayback Machine before Angelo’s on the team but how they were and then how cheap Angelo’s was at in this particular case, forever, as far as augmenting things you know, and being able to to shop from the top shelf, as well as sign free agents from the top show, this organization didn’t have a sniff at the Shara and he grew up down the street. And they made up lies about what they were going to offer and like all all this stuff that I’m supposed to ignore when the Whistler and Mr. Rubenstein call me about my press pass that none of this ever happened. It all happened and this organization. I don’t say never. But I you know, go back to 97 and 96 and 97 when players were flying everywhere and David Wells and like all of that. They shop then everybody was shopping then. I mean tigers are spending more everybody was spending like drunken sailors at that point in the mid 90s Trying to get players and trying to win still more owned by like guys like Steinbrenner then then it was like corporate entities or the Tribune Company owning the Cubs. But the Orioles have never shopped like that the Orioles have never taken on the Verlander in August who still owed $10 million over two months. They’ve just never done that. I don’t I don’t I don’t know who’s out there. I don’t know what the numbers would even be. But the Orioles haven’t done that the Orioles have always sort of bottom fished at the trading deadline financially financial. And
Luke Jones 19:15
but I’m not even I’m talking in a bigger picture sense even from that. I mean, yes, the trade deadline for that. But also, some of this is Mike Elias might need to trade more from his farm system than he would have liked a month ago. And if you’re going to do that, then you want to hear the commitment from ownership to say, Mike. We’re going to be expanding the payroll. You know, we’re not going to be spending like the Dodgers. But we’re going to spend more than we have the last I would
8Nestor J. Aparicio 19:42
say behind closed doors he and I don’t know what Rubenstein you don’t know. I’m pretty convinced he doesn’t know much about baseball. I think he held the bat the wrong way in the promo. Like I’m at the point where he’s a figurehead thrown out hats like Mr. Magoo. I don’t think he’s really running it. I don’t think he’s here. I don’t think he he’s ever come in here to run it. And so knowing baseball players and who’s good to trade for and Mike, that’s a good idea. I wonder where they are behind closed doors and I’ll never know because I’ll never be invited in anymore. Um, where they are on burns, whether they feel about burns the way you and I do, or whether Rubinstein’s Mr Big pants and says, We’re gonna sign him, we’re gonna, we’re gonna put $300 million up for a pitcher, and we’re gonna figure out Anderson, and we’re gonna sell more sleep patches, and we’re gonna get our team, like, I don’t know, their level of confidence, because I haven’t met them. I’ve just met some prick on the phone, he whistles or yelled at me. I don’t I don’t have any ability to know what their real intentions are. And to your point, you know, six weeks from now we’ll at least question it. I don’t know if we’re gonna question it. Mr. Rubenstein. I don’t know that Elias is ever going to be honest about it. But I’ve sat here for 30 years and watched it. Mr. Rubenstein, I want baseball team I want to be a hero. I want to sign autographs I want people to know who I am. That’s what Rubinstein is signed up for. He jets any hint, they put them on television doing a PAP a wave. But I don’t know what philosophically. Yeah, any of this is because it’s big boy pants, dude. It was always big boy pants when we were poor and losing 120 games, when teams would go out on July 3, and say we’re going to take on 60 $80 million of a player because we’re going to have that pitcher for the next two or three years. And we need a one. And we’re not going to have burns. Now I know Elias is a genius. I just don’t know what Rubinstein is up to. I’m not even convinced. And I’ll say this out loud. I’m not convinced he owns the team. I’m convinced that the Angelo’s family still has their 60% of the stock. I haven’t said that out loud. I believe that for a couple of weeks. I believe that. So I don’t think this is about Mr. Rubenstein. Because I don’t think he owns the team yet.
Luke Jones 21:51
I mean, that part of it. I you know, I don’t know, I but what I will say is, again, there’s a large, there’s a very wide range of outcomes here. And my big question is, is the financial commitment coming to increase payroll, make things easier, create a wider margin for error with having to trade some prospects to go get what you need to go out in the free agent market this offseason, and go get what you need. And if that’s there, then they’re gonna be fine navigating where they are right now with the pitcher injuries, if that’s not there, and it continues to have to be the farm system, the farm system, the farm system, and maybe you can sign one. I don’t want to say modest because it sounds crazy saying that, because you know what corporate Corbin Burns is making real money this year, Kyle Gibson made some real money last year, but relative to what payroll and what contracts can be, you know, one year deals are not major commitments. So if you’re, if that’s still going to be what you’re limited to, in doing, then this does get way more difficult. And you are operating from a really tiny margin for error. And you are having to obsess on the margins for how you’re trying to get better. So. So like I said, I mean, it’s, and again, this isn’t, you know, to the example that you just made, this isn’t me, saying that you must go out and acquire a pitcher who’s owed $60 million still over the next couple years. For me, it’s understanding that those pitchers could be out there for you, if you are willing to take on some salary. And if your general manager, and this is the key, I mean, everything you said about David Rubenstein, I don’t need him to make the baseball decisions. I don’t even need him to necessarily understand it a whole lot. I need him to trust his baseball people and say, Look, Mike, SIG, Matt blod. Everyone, y’all all the movers and shakers and decision makers within their front office, you know, that are evaluating, I want you guys to know that I trust you implicitly from a baseball decision making standpoint at the same time, I want you to understand that you don’t have to operate as you did in the old world. And if there’s something that you think can make us much better, but we need to spend to do it, then I’m here to make that happen. You know, that’s what I want to hear is on the table. And again, that doesn’t. I’m not necessarily saying that that means you’re signing Corbin burns to a seven year contract for whatever crazy nine figure deal he’s going to ultimately get and when I say crazy, I don’t mean that it’s bad or that he’s not deserving of it. It’s just what the market would dictate. And knowing what that market is for top of the rotation starting pitchers hitting free agency, but you know, that’s that’s the unknown here. You know, we talked about this a lot. Last year. We talked about this at the trade deadline. We we talked about it last offseason in terms of you know, amidst ownership uncertainty, but talking about this farm system, getting them to this point, which is a really, really pressive point, I mean 101 wins last year on pace to do better than that this year. But at some point in time, if the financial commitment isn’t coming to augment and resign, guys, then then you have to operate more like the Tampa Bay Rays. And look that’s worked really well for the raise relative to what resources they’ve had, or resources they haven’t had. But it’s also really difficult to get over the hump, when that’s those are the restrictions that you’re working with. So for me, again, it’s a case of does ownership, say to Mike Elias, like, we can trade an extra prospect or two to land what we need, because we’re going to be, we’re going to be spending more, we’re going to be more of a player on the free agent market, that doesn’t mean we’re necessarily going to get about $300 million contracts on the norm. But we’re not going to be bottom three and Major League Baseball and payroll anymore, either. So if that’s there, then I think Mike Elias has more confidence and more conviction to go out and get a couple pieces that can help you this year, and presumably next year, and you know, whatever club controller contracts will control you have, but if that assurance isn’t there, and again, you’re just kind of using your farm system to acquire what you need, then that just limits you so much more in terms of right now. And in terms of the long term sustainability of this thing. So I don’t say this, even looking through the lens of saying, I don’t expect that that’s going to be on the table. But until it is, we don’t know. And that’s where we look at this and say, you know, the last thing I want to see them do is, you know, completely pick their farm system clean just to acquire a couple guys that might marginally increase your chances of winning in October, I want to make I want to see them make deals that make sense, while they can also maintain their long term health of the organization. But again, how does payroll fit into that, if you are going to have the flexibility to spend more than you can have more confidence, and maybe giving up that one extra prospect? If you feel like you’re gonna land something that’s really good, because then you say, Hey, this guy that projected to be at this position, and this year and doing this is a great
Nestor J. Aparicio 27:15
example, but they gave him something out of strength that they couldn’t use, where Jesus would have been on this team anyway. Yeah.
Luke Jones 27:19
8And I mean, Dr. Hall has been hurt, right. I mean, Dr. Hall would have been in their bullpen. But would he have stayed healthy? I mean, that was kind of the 90 l haul is obvious that they liked him. They didn’t love them to the point where they wouldn’t part with him for Corbin burns, right? I mean, you’d like you’d like your guys. They like Joey Ortiz. But yeah, where’s the path the playing time for him? So again, is the commitment financially coming for Mike Elias, to have the confidence to say yeah, if I need to give up one more prospect, and I did our model, say we should, but we feel like we can maximize our wind probability in the playoffs this year, and also put ourselves in better position next year, when we’re probably going to lose Corbin burns, we’re not gonna have Kyle Bradish till August at best, you know, then, then those decisions aren’t easy, but they become easier to navigate. So, so that’s part of it. So I think we’re gonna look back on Wednesday. Now, the practice news was inevitable, but it became official, Danny Coulomb. Disappointing. We’ll see if he’s back in September at Sandy won’t be but that’s there’s a lot of unknown there. And like I said, with Craig Kimbrel. I mean, it’s Kimbrel has been good overall. And the numbers bear that out. But he’s really been the benefactor of some pretty favorable save situations. And look, that’s a reflection of how good this club is the fact that he’s saved two and three run games rather than one run games on the norm. You know, it’s easier to win two or three run games. Newsflash, they’re right. And you know, you don’t have to be a math major to figure that out. But you’re going to have to save more one run games. And we’re just not, you know, Craig Kimbrel is not inspiring a lot of confidence in doing that, which is why I said, this isn’t about demoting him. This isn’t about that he stinks or anything like that. It’s about can you add another arm into that mix that you feel really good about thrown out there in the ninth inning. And that individual can save some games about Craig Kimbrel, when it’s a two or three run game could still save those games, right? I mean, you can have a one in one day. I am not the type that subscribes to the idea that you must have the same guy closing games for you every night, I think. I think it’s, you need some individuals who can handle that. I don’t think you just throw any random reliever out there in the ninth inning, either. Let’s be clear, but I think there’s another move. And that’s not to say they don’t need to add two relievers. But I think one of them at the very least has to be someone that absolutely is a real serious factor in the ninth inning, and then that eases some of the Kimberleys responsibilities when it’s the highest of high leverage that eases your canola maybe pitch a little bit earlier in some games. That ease is Jacob Webb who’s pitched really, really well. for them overall, I mean, that helps you know that you can slot everyone down a peg. And I think that makes a bullpen that’s done. admirable work. You know, this bullpen has done a really good job that the numbers don’t lie. We can’t just ignore it just because, well, what well, they miss Felix Batista and they missed this guy. They miss that guy. Well, they must stick. Oh, we
Nestor J. Aparicio 30:17
think he couldn’t be better. Right? It could be better. That’s fair, right? I
Luke Jones 30:21
mean, this is what I’m proposing. I’ve said that all along at the same time, I’m recognizing that their pitching is among the best in baseball. We can’t just ignore that
Nestor J. Aparicio 30:32
borrowed time around here you know that? I mean, to a degree sure but when you don’t see means and Bradish and even Kelowna at this point wells the reinforced Teesta right, you know, the guys that were in the organization we took all winter about all last summer about it’s getting a little depleted it’s all I said to my wife when the when you were doing the press conference and Twitter I said script and they got burns, sugar thing they got because they this season would have been overstated, Ebert’s sure the the trade of Ortiz and the trade of DL Hall save their season. Corbin Burns has saved their season. And this is where they’d be 11 games out right now. They just be another team slapping around trying to get a wild card game.
8Luke Jones 31:16
Yeah, they they’d be a wild card contender at this point. You know, their season one video over through the lens of making the playoffs or any of that but it’d be much more of a Cinderella kind of thing.
Nestor J. Aparicio 31:26
Who’s your number one starter in October two? Yeah, right. Okay, Cole Irvin’s going game one. Okay. Great, you know, like, but you know what I’m saying like, well, and this is that trade and the the vision for that trade, and it was a blockbuster. It happened playoff week for the ravens and happened after the Rubenstein like that. If I’m writing the book on Oren Schneider, orange, not Agent Orange, orange fever, orange Kool Aid, or I’ll come up with that one. I won’t use orange, I will use a synonym for Orange, like lavender for purple. But if I were to write the book, the burns trade is close to the front. If they win if they win a World Series this year, they could not have done that without him. They were not equipped to do that, knowing what we now know. Well,
Luke Jones 32:13
and, and that’s the big thing here. Kyle Bradish. The UCL sprain surfaced in late January. They acquired Corbin burns on February 1. Now, Mike Elias, you know, in talking about the trade said that that’s something that they were targeting a frontline starting pitcher. But did they up their offer up what they were willing to part with? Knowing that Kyle Bradish was a question mark at that point time knowing not not necessarily thinking he wasn’t going to pitch but when you anytime you have a pitcher with an elbow ish issue, you know that? It’s a question. So? Yeah. And that’s why I kind of said to you at this point in time. They’re kind of sorta not exactly but not far off, kind of where their rotation was last year with basically swapping Corbin burns for Kyle Bradish. Now like to have both. Kyle Bradish is a top of the rotation quality kind of arm when he’s right. But can they go out and do better than Jack Flaherty? I think that’s, you know, that’s the captain obvious statement. Although Jack Flaherty is pitching really well for Detroit this year. So who knows, maybe they were on to something, and it just didn’t come to fruition. But big win on Wednesday night. Really a testament to this team’s resolve, considering how that game went considering the disappointment of the news from earlier in the afternoon. But I think we’re gonna look back on Wednesday night in a lot of different ways, in terms of not just the game, not just the Bradish news and cool news, but also kind of looking at okay, I think you you found out some things off the field health wise and I think with what we saw with Kimbrel and you know, Kay Povich battled what’s a pretty whatsoever, buddy but gave them a chance. But I think it’s very clear. They’re going to need some reinforcements here now. I mean, that’s an understatement at this point, at the same time, still a heck of a baseball team. They found a way to win on Wednesday night amidst the Yankees throwing at Gunnar Henderson and bad blood brewing. How about that I came full circle for you that
Nestor J. Aparicio 34:16
right there you go. All right. So we will be together at Costas later today. Thursday. If you’re hearing this on Thursday. You’re hearing this on Friday, which is a big mistake and we hope they want on Thursday, a big weekend in Houston and certainly next week we’re going to be taking the Maryland crabcake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery with the Gold Rush sevens doublers. We have these to give away a cost this will have these to give away on Tuesday. I Pappas and Parkville will be there in the afternoon. We got great guests coming Chris Emery is coming out today. Jessica phallus my dear friend from Hartford designs who’s redesigned our website which you can go check out at Baltimore positive.com any rare opportunity to have a crab cake with Luke Jones so he will be there. I’m gonna try to talk him into the Oysters Rockefeller and see if I can expand his palate into the Dundalk parley it’s been a little while since Luke and I have gathered in Dundalk. So we will see you over cost this despite the fact that I’m wearing my a waffle shirt in Catonsville I am Nestor. He’s Luke, we’re wn st am 1570 Towson Baltimore. bellied up to the bar at Costas at 4pm. Today get on it.
