The Baltimore Orioles certainly appear posed to hit the ball this summer. As Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the big Opening Day win and big bats from Toronto, we wonder about Anthony Santander’s move to the Blue Jays and how Tyler O’Neill, Cedric Mullins and the booming bats of the Orioles’ outfield will fare over the long season.
Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discussed the Orioles’ 12-2 opening day win over the Blue Jays, highlighting the team’s offensive prowess with six home runs, including two each from Adley Rutschman and Cedric Mullins. Zach Eflin pitched six innings, allowing two runs and two hits. The conversation also touched on the Orioles’ pitching strategy, the potential of Tyler O’Neill, and the decision to let Anthony Santander go. They emphasized the importance of depth and smart financial decisions, noting the team’s reliance on young talent and the need for reliable pitching to sustain success.
Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 task Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. I don’t know if you can see me, but you can see Luke. I think Luke’s going to be staring at the screen all 25 minutes because we’re in another country. We’re in Toronto, Canada, where the Orioles are one and, oh and headed for the weekend, they’ll be doing opening day back in Baltimore. On Monday. We will be at fade, Lee’s of Lexington market on Wednesday. It is all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. Lucas, how’s your neck doing all those home runs up there? Jerk left, jerk right. Big bombs. Adley rutschman. Cedric Mullins, what a day. And then the Canadian with all the muscles muscling up as well. Tony who? Tony taters? What happened to him? Well,
Luke Jones 0:44
I can tell you from the press box, which is tucked up down the left field line, right by the left field foul pole. I had a good view from all those home runs that were sailing into the Orioles bullpen or over the Orioles bullpen in right field. But hey, we talked about it throughout the spring, with all the angst for the pitching that will continue to be there, right? I mean, it’s one game one of 162 but we talked about this offense and this group of young position talent, and more specifically, we talked a lot about Adley rutman. I mean, this is a two time All Star catcher who had a total of three home runs after the all star break last year. But I think you and I both said, despite our concerns and despite our sparring about the pitching and whether they were going to have enough, whether they will have enough, ultimately, we were, we always were high on the idea that they were going to hit the ball, and they certainly did on opening day, no question about it. I mean, you hit six home runs, a franchise record for an opening day. Tyler O’Neill, as you mentioned. I mean, he extends his Major League record for homering and in consecutive opening days. And Adley rutschman with two bombs. Mullins with two bombs. Jordan westburg. Zach Eflin goes six. I mean, a rock solid performance from him, you’ll take that, right? I mean, if that’s the formula, you’ll go 162 and Oh,
Nestor Aparicio 2:11
obviously performance is where it’s at. We knew they’re going to hit the ball right. Like when you get six innings out of your number one starter that we have argued might be a number three in other places, but certainly gave him a number one starter start to start the season. And they’re not going to get that every night, Luke, they’re not well
Luke Jones 2:30
but I will say this, it’s not as though Zach Eflin was dominant, right? First couple winnings. Got quite a bit of swing a miss with the sweeper. You know, had a couple strikeouts in the first two innings, and I think he had one swinging strike the rest of the way. Second time through the order, I will say Toronto did hit the ball harder. I’m with Brandon Hyde, even if we weren’t talking about the first start of the year. I’m not sure how much longer you’re going to have effluent go anyway, just based on third time through the order, the fact that they were hitting the ball harder. But this is who he is. He’s going to be a guy that is going to mix his pitches. He’s not going to walk. People had one walk. We know his career walk rate. We’ve talked about that. And he’s going to get you into the sixth or seventh inning, right? And he’s not a bona fide true number one in the way that Corbin Burns is, but he’s someone that this team’s going to need to be very dependable in that way, right? I mean, whether you think he’s a number three for other contenders or not, he’s the Orioles number one right now, and until Grayson Rodriguez walks through that door with a healthy arm, or they acquire someone between now and the trade deadline, Zach Evelyn’s going to be that guy. So he gave them what they needed. And if that’s the formula, and obviously it doesn’t carry as much clout when you’ve scored 12 runs in a game, but if that’s the kind of game where you score four or five runs, he gives you a heck of a chance to win there if you get good bullpen work after him. So but, but Zach Eflin is he kind of epitomizes what the Orioles are trying to do right now. He’s not as old as their other veteran starters that are in this rotation. But, you know, we’re talking about guys who aren’t necessarily going to get a ton of swing and miss, although Charlie Morton still strikes out people, but you’re talking about guys that are, you know, pitch ability Guys, guys that are going to eat innings for them, guys that they’re hoping will go through an order twice and give them a decent chance to win. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be dominant. Doesn’t mean it’s going to be shiny numbers like Corbin Burns is capable of doing, but it got the job done more than got the job done on Thursday, when you’re talking about giving up two runs and two hits in six innings. So, you know, that’s kind of, I don’t want to say that Zach effel can’t do any better than that, because he’ll pitch seven innings here and there over the course of a season. I mean, you don’t see that much from anyone in this day and age, but you get those kind of starts, you’ll take that. That because they are going to hit the ball for the most part, not six home runs a night, right? I mean, we’re not talking about, yeah, that’s a pretty extreme, but we see what kind of power capability this team has, and oh yeah, they did that without their best player who is beginning a at minor league rehab assignment in Norfolk this weekend. So good day for the Orioles. Good way to start a four game series when you get that first game, that’s where you look at and say, hey, you know, try to win a series. Try to get off to a good start here on the road before you come home and play the Boston Red Sox. So lots to like. Not sure there was anything to dislike about that opening day performance, and the Orioles certainly took it to the Jays, who had very, very little to celebrate on Thursday, even as they were excited to welcome Anthony Santander. To
Nestor Aparicio 5:52
your point, if they’re gonna hit six home runs in a game, they’re gonna win a lot of games. That’s that’s where it’s at. That’s not going to happen every night over the course of the history of Major League Baseball, but the pitching itself, and you know, we’re going to judge it series by series, and that you always speak in those terms of, hey, win a series. Win a series, win, two out of three, win two out of three. You win a lot of games, right? But then, then it’s the rest of the rotation in the bottom, when you start going into the bullpen in a game, maybe you’re losing, right? Maybe you’re losing a game seven to four, and you feel like, well, we’ll score some runs late in the game. We gotta stop the bleeding. I don’t know where that’s going to come from. And when it starts to stack up, usually the early season, you get a lot of off. Days you get rain. Days you get all that. It’s not going to rain in Toronto this weekend. Might rain in Baltimore on Monday, but it’s supposed to be really nice when they get home for opening day Monday, just stretching out this pitching and seeing where it is. I mean, getting six innings from a starter on opening day just a big deal to begin with. I think just to know you have a guy that every fifth day is going to be able to have that sort of length to him, because whenever Rodriguez comes back, it’s not going to be anything like that. Yeah,
Luke Jones 6:58
and look, I mean, early in the season, you’re not having guys throw 100 pitches. I mean, not that we see guys throw 100 pitches that frequently anymore. Anyway. I think if you went back and looked at the Orioles rotation last year, you wouldn’t find many start. I mean, even Corbin burns. How many times did he actually throw 100 plus pitches? Not very often it, you know, but you could probably count on one hand, maybe two, they were saving
Nestor Aparicio 7:23
his arms. Arizona could pay him, but,
Luke Jones 7:26
but that’s just the nature of the beast. I mean, we’ve talked about it. That’s why, to a degree, I kind of follow what Mike Elias has tried to do. I don’t. I’m not saying it’s going to work, but I can at least follow what they’re trying to do. But on Thursday, I thought it was interesting, they went to Sir Anthony Dominguez when they did. Keep in mind he entered the game it was nine to two, but it was six to two when he was warming up. I thought that was surprising on the heels of him having a very rough spring training. And yeah, he threw a scoreless inning, but walk two gave up a hit. I mean, that’s not ideal. So he’s working through some things. You know, they had Baker pitched the ninth, Aiken pitched the eighth inning for the Orioles. You know, you just look at that. I mean, you your other higher leverage guys in the pen are well rested now as you go into the weekend. And, yeah, this, this is as clean as the bullpen will be all year long, other than maybe coming out of the all star break, right? I mean, that’s just the nature of the beast. So if you’re Brandon Hyde, you love the fact that Zach efland gave you six innings. I mean 78 pitches. I mean 13 pitches per inning. That’s really good ratio if you listen to Jim Palmer or Ben McDonald on the telecast, they’ll tell you you’re kind of shooting for 15, kind of speaking in terms of realistic expectations. So he was very efficient, as I mentioned. Didn’t strike many people out, but he did the job and the bullpen. You know, you don’t like the walks, you know, from Dominguez and Aiken, but you also understand, there’s nerves. These guys are pitching in a true, meaningful game for the first time since last October. So, yeah, there’s a little bit of that going on, but yeah, you hit six home runs, you scored 12 runs. Your pitching is not going to be an issue, right? You score 567, runs a night with regularity. Your pitching is not going to be a major issue. I said it to you going into the start of the season, if you look at how pitching staffs profile in 2025 for the most part, you it assuming you have a good offense, which the Orioles have, assuming you’re going to defend well, which I think the Orioles will, when it’s all said and done, you can get by with either your rotation or your bullpen having some issues. You can’t get by most likely, if you’re going to have. Below average performance from from both I mean, that that’s just not going to work. You’re not going to score seven or eight runs a game in 2025 you know, a great offense scores five runs a game in 2025 I mean, that’s just the reality of where we are in baseball in general right now. So, good start. They use three bullpen arms in the first game. That’s not surprising, because guys aren’t stretched out in the way they are in mid season form coming out of spring training. So you’ll take it, and now it’s a matter of looking at the rest of the weekend, and it’s Morton and Kramer and Sagano, and you’re hoping that at least two of those three guys give you something close to a quality start. And if you do that, then you’ve got a great chance to win a series. Watching
Nestor Aparicio 10:44
Sugano on Sunday is going to be great. We’re going to be home for that, by the way. Shout out to John Martin and our friends at the Maryland lottery for home run riches. If John does not appear next week, it’s because he’s trying to figure out how to pay everybody all these home runs going out. Thoughts on Cedric Mullins. I mean, you know, it’s we’ll talk about O’Neill. We’ll talk to the other guys, but you and I privately on Thursday night after the game, while we’re watching the Terps season end. We’ll get to that later that the Mullins thing’s interesting because he was such a great player, and on the cusp of that left handed pitching is a problem for him. But then on opening day, hits couple of home runs, dude, last opening day, if you and I would have really had the saliva test on this done, the Charlie Ekman test that said, is Cedric Mullins going to be on this team on opening day of 2025 I think you and I would have bet against that, right?
Luke Jones 11:36
Um, I mean, I don’t know. I mean, it’s, he’s still a valuable player. I mean, last year uneven, right? I mean, really got off to a bad start.
Nestor Aparicio 11:44
It was him and Hayes last year that we talked about for a lot. And Hayes is the one that was expendable.
Luke Jones 11:50
I mean, he was, but at the same time, Cedric Mullins still plays a good center field, and there’s still, there’s a premium value to that, that if you offer anything offensively, that you’re still going to have a place on a club Now, that said, Do I think they’re going to resign him as he’s now entering his contract here? No, I don’t. I think they’re, I think he’ll be playing elsewhere in 2026 most likely, you’re hoping that he has the kind of year that you know probably not going to be a qualifying offer guy. But if he has, you know, if he has another 3030, year, which I don’t think we are expecting, I don’t think anyone’s expecting that. I mean, and that’s where you look at it. You mentioned a few years ago, he was, he had a great season. I think that’s where you look at it three years later, and you say, outlier. You know, four years later, that was the outliers, great season. He was an all star. He deserved to be an all star that year, but you look at what he’s been since then, 721 ops, 721 ops, 710 ops, last year. I mean, that’s what you’re talking about. I think he settled in. I think,
Nestor Aparicio 12:51
well, the expectations are lower and the reality is lower than what star was.
Luke Jones 12:55
You don’t judge someone off of their career year. I mean, Cal Ripken, the Cal Ripken of 1983 or 1991 what wasn’t what he was every single year that those were the peak seasons. And God bless him. I mean, he was a Hall of Famer, but, and Cedric Mullins is an above average player, but, you know, he was a six win player in 2021 when he hit 30 home runs and had 30 stolen bases. Since then, he’s been a guy who hits somewhere in the neighborhood of 15, 1617, home runs and steals. You know, the stolen bases have been, have fluctuated a little bit here and there, because he’s had some, you know, two years ago, had the multiple groin injuries that really limited him in that capacity. But you know, for what he is, he’s a quality player. He’s, you know, age 30 season at this point in time. So you do kind of wonder, at what point do you slow down? At what point does your defense in center field not really be what it was for the bulk of your 20s? But the Orioles are glad to have them for 2025 and hits two home runs on opening day. I mean, that’s great. So I’m a big Cedric Mullins guy. I think we all think back to him replacing Adam Jones, and then that first full year with Brandon Hyde and Mike Elias, where Mullen struggled so dramatically in the month of April, to the point where he was sent down to the point where he struggled at triple A and he was in Bowie midway through that 2019 season. I mean, that speaks to how far he had fallen and what he’s done since then. So, you know, I I certainly am not expecting the Orioles to extend him. I think it probably wouldn’t be the best investment unless he’s willing to take a short term deal. But he’s valuable to you right now. And he’s, you know, was a big part of winning on opening day. And I think if you can keep him away from left handed starting pitching, he can have a really quality season. I think that’s proven out at this point in time. It really struggled two of the last three years against left handed pitching. I think that’s just. Of the reality. So 2021 was a great year. I don’t just because he hits two home runs on opening day doesn’t mean I think he’s hitting 30 home runs again, but it’s a good start, and it’s important for him, because regardless of his future with the Orioles, it’s a big year for him in the sense of wanting to put his best foot forward to wherever he’s playing next year, whether it’s Baltimore or one of the 29 other teams that he wants to have the kind of season that makes him look appealing. And I still think Cedric Mullins is an appealing player, even if he’s not that all star that he was four years ago at this point in time.
Nestor Aparicio 15:33
Luke you and I got to the ballpark, the Skydome, early on on Thursday for opening day. I was in there real early. And I I’m not a real media member like you, but I was down near the field. I saw Mark Shapiro down there, and it was quiet. They were taking BP, and the giant video board they have in center field there is really loud because it’s a dome, and there was nobody in there. It was early BP. And they did a big feature on Tony taters, and it was a lot of it was blue jays magazine for an hour during BP, right? So I’m seeing their players, and a lot of Dunedin and a lot of Welcome to the team. And Tony taters did a whole thing on making steaks outside, and how he left Venezuela when he was 14 to go to the academy, and he had to learn how to make food, and he cooked for his teammates and did all this stuff. And then they welcome him out onto the field as the Silver Slugger, as a blue jay, and he nodded to the Orioles dugout. I don’t know that you and I have spent and I go back over the last four or five months talking at length about Tyler O’Neill for Santander in regard to money, in regard to expectation, in regard to not how opening day is going to be, but how the end of the season is going to be, and where the value is, and all of that. Revisit that for me as we go through this, because Santander became part of the furniture to some degree, and he was taken for granted as Rule five, and all that. They never really had to pay him a lot of money. Now he gets that big contract here in Toronto. They’re bringing him in as, I don’t know, some sort of Encarnacion or Batista. I don’t you know, know what they think he’s going to be, but they think he’s going to hit 40 home runs, because he had 40 last year, and in the Tyler O’Neill case, and I made references couple weeks ago. Peter King, my dear friend, Sports Illustrated. Peter King, NBC. Peter King, Monday morning quarterback. Peter King’s a big baseball fan, and he and I flirt back and forth on text. And the Tyler O’Neill thing was interesting to him because he was a Red Sox. And he said, Yeah, he’ll hit 41 home runs in, you know, 98 games, because he’s going to get hurt. And then what are you going to do? Right? So what are you going to do? You have cursed that you know you have all of these other options here. But in the case of Santander and money and Tyler O’Neill and money and what player you want on your team over the next three years, if you think you’re going to win a championship in the next two or three years, where are you on what they did with Santander and giving money to O’Neill and how it’s going to play. It certainly smells pretty good day after opening day, when O’Neill comes to Canada and plays like a real Canadian, yeah, I
Luke Jones 18:09
mean, and just to kind of recap the deals, I mean, it’s three years, 49 point 5 million for O’Neill. He has an opt out after year one. So, you know, if opening day is any indication, he might be here one year. You know, this might be a Nelson Cruz kind of situation if it comes to that. And of course, we’re a long ways away from that. I’m being facetious, but Santander
Nestor Aparicio 18:27
guaranteed him 50 if he stinks, if he’s really good, he’s gone. I mean, if he’s kind of the deal. I mean,
Luke Jones 18:33
you know, I I don’t know if it’s necessarily if he stinks, I think a lot of it, but also is dependent on how healthy he is. I mean, that’s been the the knock on Tyler O’Neill. He’s been a productive player when he’s been healthy. I mean, when he’s go back and look at what he did. I was just talking about Cedric Mullins in 2021 I mean, Tyler O’Neill didn’t make the all star team, but should have that year. I mean, he was a six win player. He had 34 home runs, drove in 80 he had a 912, ops. Batted 286 he had 26 doubles. I mean, he in 138 games. The problem is, he hasn’t been a guy that’s been able to play 138 games consistently. So, you know, the Orioles got him at a little bit of a discount. On that front, he hit 31 home runs, albeit playing half his games at Fenway last year. I think you always take that into account. But hey, the left field wall at Camden Yards is much more forgiving than it used to be. So, so he has that going for him. It’s probably a big reason why he signed with the Orioles. And, you know, we talked about the the left field wall being moved in, and we’ll continue to talk about that, I’m sure. But you know, injuries have been a problem for him. This guy’s also, we forget he’s a two time Gold Glove outfielder as well. So this isn’t just muscle bound home run hitting guy that can’t really do anything else. I mean, he’s been able to field. He’s still probably not going to steal bases for the Orioles at this point, because I think that’s something that they’re you. I want to try to keep him out of harm’s way, trying to do that. But he stole 15 or 14 bases back to back years in 21 and 22 so this guy’s a good athlete. I mean, he’s ripped. I think we saw that. You know, this guy’s a definitely in the gym a whole lot. But, you know, I think the Orioles are looking at how he profiled against left handed pitching, with the issues that they had on that front last year, really going back the last couple years and acknowledging Yes, Santander swung from both sides of the plate, but with O’Neill, well, kind of being a guy that is, he’ll start against every lefty, and early on, at the very least, he’s going to start regularly against right handers. But as I’ve noted to you, and I, you know, we talked about this over the winter, he’s been a little more underwhelming against right handed starters over the last few years. You know, he’s kind of been a 700 ops guy, actually slightly under that. So maybe that opens the door then to take him out of the lineup sometimes in those spots, and get Heston kerstadt A few more at that. So when you it’s not just a straight trade up of Santander for O’Neill, it’s O’Neill and mixing in Heston kerstad, right? I mean, it’s the idea is to try to mix in some of your young talent here as well. And we’re going to see how that’s going to play out, because they’re gonna have a roster crunch here and the not too distant, Hey, man,
Nestor Aparicio 21:23
I’m gonna be writing a letter to Katie Griggs this week and Mike Elias, you’re monitoring on the field, not monitoring off the field. But you know, this was strategized. This was a grown up decision. They’re not they’re not dumb, they’re not just throwing darts. They made this decision, you know, after long meetings, right? And this was the direction they decided to go in. I guess just opening days a great day to pull it apart when Santander is on the other side and say, How do you think this is going to work out? And and do you think Santander is a guy who’s going to diminish over the next couple of years? I’m not sure. I I don’t have an opinion on this, just the observation of my eyes being open on it, and to your point, trying to get cursed at, trying to get some of these young guys at bats. Cows is an everyday player. Now, Mullins is not right, and how the the three outfield positions, let’s say first base and DH, how all of that works, and even catching, because rushman is not going to catch 150 games, right? So how they’re going to platoon in and out righty, lefty, yeah, and how Hyde’s going to manage this, and then at the end of the year, how you and I are going to say, hey, they were really smart for signing O’Neill and not giving Santa on their thing, even if it winds up like Corbin burns where, like, he’s just so good, he has this monster 41 home run year, like Santander, and they’re either gonna have to pay him more or watch him go off and, you know, play for the Dodgers or whatever. Yeah. And,
8Luke Jones 22:48
I mean, the reality is, Santander wasn’t going to take a three year deal for $50 million so, I mean, he just wasn’t. So you look at it in terms of, okay, what do you project them, both of those players, to be in 2025 What do you project them to be in 26 so, you know, we can’t even really judge it after one year, unless it is the scenario of what you just mentioned, O’Neill. It’s 45 home runs for the Orioles regardless, even if Santander is a good year, you look at that and say, okay, you know, but, but the Santander part, you got to look at how that deal ages. I mean, I like Santander a lot, but he’s 30. I think he’s someone that is probably not going to be an outfielder much longer. If we’re being reality, they’ve moved in Toronto, right? I mean, he’s playing left, but I if you told me right now where I think he’s going to play in two years, I’m thinking he’s probably going to be a first baseman. And if Vlad Guerrero resigns, then he’ll be a DH right? I mean, it’s looking at that so, so I understood, I understood what they were doing. And for as much as we talk about O’Neill’s injury history, I mean, Santander, until a couple years ago, was the guy that couldn’t stay healthy, right? So, and look, I give him a lot of credit, because I know a lot of work went into getting his body to a place physically where he could play 150 games a year, which was not his reality until 2022 so, you know, I look, I’m not going to sit here and say that I was 100% opposed to re signing sand on there, but I’m not going to sit here and lie to you and say I would have been enthusiastic about giving them a five year deal either. I just, I think, and
Nestor Aparicio 24:27
again, we’re playing with Mr. Rubenstein’s money here, like, like they had, they’re giving $20 million to 40 year old pictures, right? Sure, well, but, but they’re pushing more. And that’s the other thing the organization will fill in whatever. Tyler O’Neal and and Anthony Santander, because you’re expecting rushman to lift, you’re expecting holiday to lift. You’re expecting all cows are all these guys to lift and be better players. So that Santander isn’t your best player or your only power hitter,
Luke Jones 24:56
right? And I mean, again, when. Looking at these guys that they get to age 30, that’s where you have to really look and see, okay, who’s going to age well, right? I mean, I don’t need to remind anyone in this town of where the Orioles were 10 years ago with Chris Davis. I mean, 2015 was his contract year. You know, we’re 10 years later, and we know how that played out. And even though there’s a lot of revisionist history at work, but there are a lot of people that wanted the Orioles to resign Chris
Nestor Aparicio 25:25
Davis, and they did. Bowler put up when Tom was doing the show with me, but he wasn’t alone. If we don’t sign Chris Davis, I’m done with the Orioles, and I’m thinking that was pretty popular sentiment back then. It was given Angelos situation, and the Machado was unsignable. They’re in a different world now where, like, I don’t know that there’s any pressure on the new owner to necessarily do anything right now, you know, other than, let’s see how it plays out. Because they’ve got good enough position players, to your point, to hit six home runs and win any game. They can win any game. But that being said, back in October, they didn’t hit the ball. And,
Luke Jones 26:06
yeah, but, but that’s also, I mean, that’s any team that can be in that spot, right? I mean, we’ve talked about it a lot with the Dodgers over the last 10 years. I mean, they’ve been extraordinary in the regular season. And yes, of course, they won the World Series last October, and everyone thinks they’re going to win it this year because they have a an absurd payroll at this point in time. But we’ve seen the Dodgers win 100 plus games in the regular season and then bow out in the divisional round, because that. It’s just the nature of baseball. You have a bad three or four days, then you’re done. Now, the Orioles last year that was on the heels of a bad second half. So it’s, you know, it was kind of a continuation, but, but we’re going
Nestor Aparicio 26:44
to be monitoring their pitching the whole way. We’re not going to talk about whether they’re going to hit the ball in October or not. We’re just going to assume they are right. We’re going to be way more worried about the pitching. Yeah, noted, I’m already talking about October like they’re making the playoffs. You know, we have a Saturday the day after opening day, and talked about, Hey, how’s the pitching look in October? I mean, dude, I’ve been doing this 34 years. That’s the rarefied air we’re on that you’re in Toronto, when I’m in Toronto, and we’re on the road, and they are expected to win 90 games. And how they get there, you know they’re going to hit the ball. It’s really going to be about how this pitching goes and the decisions that they’ve made. Santander for O’Neill and even Rodriguez being hurt and Henderson being hurt right now. And I know you’re not as concerned about him, but they do look like a different team when he’s not out there.
Luke Jones 27:31
Oh, sure. That’s why it was so nice. I mean, it looks like there’s a good chance he’ll be back by the end of the Boston series, you know, for that next road trip. I mean, keep in mind, they come home for three games and then they’re back on the road. So he’s he’s playing in Norfolk this weekend. That was the plan, as Brandon Hyde disclosed on opening day. And it’s really just a matter of him getting some live game reps and ramping up and getting his clock back, which a guy like Connor Henderson, I’m guessing, is not going to need much more than this next week to do that, so I think he’s going to be back. But one final point, because you said something, and it really resonated with me, you made a point because we were talking about the Chris Davis thing. And I’m not you know, just the example here is perfect, though, because you mentioned there was talk about Chris Davis, because even at that point, there was already thoughts resignation, that are they going to be able to resign? Are they going to resign Manny Machado? Are they going to try to resign Manny Machado? How much is it going to cost? And you know, 2015 he was still a few years away from from hitting the market. But you made mention that if they weren’t gonna be able to resign Machado then, well, you gotta extend Chris Davis. See, you can’t have that kind of binary thought. The worst thing the Orioles could do would be to extend Anthony Santander, simply because you’re leery and unsure about your ability to extend gunner Henderson a few years from now. So you need to make Jordan
Nestor Aparicio 29:06
westburg to sun, the moon and the stars, because they can’t find and, yeah, I was a guy that wanted them to sign Jonathan scope. Dude, right? I was first out of baseball a couple years later, I mean, and in 15 it was about scope. It was about Adam Jones, about Mark ACUs. It was about Tillman. It was about written and in the end, they all got away. In the end, Britain made his money in New York. Marques went to Atlanta, Adam Jones went to Japan Lake, and it all fell apart. That can’t happen again, and they have to make better decisions with the money, no matter what the money is. And I’m look, I’m not here to spend Mr. Money Bags is money, but in the end of the day, letting the santanders walk often becomes a much better decision than signing them in a general sense, and that’s me being an old guy and talking about it’s not my money. But I know what a weight it is when you give the money to the. Wrong guy, and the nets might find that out with, you know, with some of the deals that they’ve signed.
Luke Jones 30:04
Well, look as great as Juan Soto is, and he is great, right? I mean, he’s an unbelievable hitter. Where do you think he’s Where do you think he’s going to be playing Five years from now? Or, okay, let’s, let’s even be generous and kind to him. Where do you think he’s going to be playing seven years from now, defensively,
Nestor Aparicio 30:26
the bench he’s gonna be DH, right? So, like, you just
Luke Jones 30:29
think about that a 700 million like that kind of contract for a guy that is going to profile as a DH for the second half of it now, if he continues to be a guy that has 1000 ops and does that, then you’ll still be happy with that, right? I mean, David Ortiz was a career DH, and he’s Hall of Famer regard, regardless of you know how you might feel about him here in Baltimore, but, but, but, I think when you look at these kind of deals, when you look at pondering what to do with a free agent, I think the Orioles looked at it. I think Mike Elias and sigma Dell looked at it through the lens of okay, what do you think Tyler O’Neill is going to be in 2025 What do you think Anthony Santander is going to be in 2025 and I’m guessing when they looked at it, they saw O’Neill with the profile that he might profile to hit more home runs. You know when you kind of, when you consider he at 30 plus last year in, you know, not even close to a full season, compared to Santander, who hit 44 but had never hit more than 33 in a full season before. So I think they looked at it in terms of, okay, what’s the 2025 bet? And then what’s the potential bet if O’Neill doesn’t opt out, and then what would be the bet of what Santander is over five years? I think they were comfortable with the idea of not being locked into a five year commitment, knowing that he probably isn’t going to age the best, knowing he’s probably going to profile as a first baseman, and they have COVID Mayo, and they have Samuel beside and you still have Ryan mountcastle, for that matter. And you kind of look at your options that you have down the pike, and they decided Tony, we love you, but we’re not going to give you a five year deal. And I’m okay with that, but you’ve got to make smart decisions. You’ve got to have smart contingency plans. You know, that’s why I said it’s not just Tyler O’Neill, because chances are, Tyler O’Neill is going to be on the IL at some point this year, maybe a couple times this year. You know, when you look at someone who has played more than 113 games once in his career, so that’s why Heston kerstad needs to factor in there, and that’s why they’ve got to have other guys that are going to hit the ball. So you need depth. That’s as much as we’ve talked in terms of, you know, what are you doing with curse that last year it was, you know, where are you with Kyle Stowers and Connor Norby? I mean, like, are these guys just going to rot
Nestor Aparicio 32:54
at trip away? Yeah, that Kyle Stowers hitting that walk off in my he did that guy. Good for him. That’s your guy. Great kid, great
Luke Jones 33:00
kid, nice young man, and I’m glad to see him getting an opportunity, and I’m rooting for him. But you look at these guys when you do have someone like a Tyler O’Neill, who you love, the upside you love what he can do. I mean, reaches base five times on opening day. I mean that that’s well and good, but you also understand he was on the IL three different times for the Red Sox last year. So that’s where Heston kerstad becomes more important. That’s why you need to have that depth. And you know, we’re going to see how this plays out. Let me be very clear, just because I am saying that I agree with the Orioles and that I would not have given Santander a five year deal doesn’t mean it won’t end up being the wrong decision if he ends up being a great player in Toronto over the next four years. At the very end, we
Nestor Aparicio 33:44
look back at Nelson Cruz as a mistake, that that was a mistake.
Luke Jones 33:47
Oh, I mean, but at the same time, that’s a mistake a lot of teams would have made at that point in time. I mean, it’s not as though, when the Mariner signed Cruz, that he had 10 teams lining up to give him four year deals. I mean, he was older and talking about someone who played into his early 40s, so good for him. It’s something that did not work out for the Orioles. But the overall prevailing point, you made the point, and I wholeheartedly agree. And that’s where it’s tough right now, because the Orioles are in this place where you want them to springboard and go for it, right, and augment what they already have. But this is where we go back to even though it’s a different sport and they have a salary cap, but you look at how the Ravens operate, they build from within. You want to draft and develop your own players, and the Orioles have gotten pretty good at that here over the last few years. I mean, thank goodness, because they had to lose a lot to pick the players that they did early on, but that is still the way to go, more so than looking at free agents and signing those guys and even looking at your own guys and saying, we need to extend this guy. We need to extend this guy. We need to you still need to be judicious with that. I think you even find some. Times when you extend your own players, you got to be careful that it’s the right guy. So hey, they’ve got a lot of work to do on that front here over the next few years, and we’re going to see how it plays out. But I can’t sit here with any strong conviction and convict and bash them for not resigning. Anthony Santander, I think he’s going to be a good player in Toronto for the next couple years, but I think you know the position. You know how he’s going to hold up durability wise as he gets into year 345, of that deal. You know, that’s where I have a little more question, but we’ll see. I’m rooting for him, because good guy, great story as a rule, five pick, and I’ll always have an affinity for the santanders, the Austin Hayes, Cedric Mullins, Mount castle, the guys that lost a lot at the major league level at the beginning of their careers to finally have a chance to enjoy some of the winnings. So you know, all the best to him. But I think the Orioles, you know, hopefully they catch lightning in a bottle with Tyler O’Neill, at least for this season. And then, you know, you’ll kind of figure out whether he opts out and where you go from there. Yeah, they might
Nestor Aparicio 36:09
lose some more, but they got off to a good start on Thursday in Toronto. Luke and I are in Toronto at skydome all weekend long. We will be at Camden Yards on Monday. Terps eliminated, the whole Kevin Willard thing. Will be talking about that as well, all of it up at Baltimore positive. We’ll see you on Wednesday at fadelies in the afternoon, before the Red Sox game. Good weather. All weekend long. We are in Toronto. He is Luke. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 tassel, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive. You.
