Luke Jones tells Dennis Koulatsos some of the Mike Elias grand plan for the second half as the Orioles host winning baseball at Camden Yards and pitching is on the minds of Baltimore baseball fans.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
orioles, ravens, play, players, baltimore, talking, baseball, roster, starting, pertains, training camp, game, team, draft, bautista, year, weeks, give, pitch, good
SPEAKERS
Dennis Koulatsos, Luke Jones
Dennis Koulatsos 00:02
Welcome back. My next guest is a great Luke Jones always doing great things for Baltimore positive wn, St. Luke, welcome in.
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Luke Jones 00:09
Dennis, it’s been a couple weeks. How are you, my friend?
Dennis Koulatsos 00:12
I’m doing well, my friend. Certainly glad to have you back. I saw you there on the Twittersphere tweeting out your your thoughts and whatnot. And I’m certainly glad to have you back.
Luke Jones 00:23
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I and in all honesty, you didn’t see too many because I when I get away from vacation, as I get older, I try to really get away from it, I check in the Oracle score every night, maybe fall on it a little bit here and there. But other than that, enjoy having my time away. But definitely, as we’ve talked about over and over. I mean, you and I are so accustomed to just be talking ravens this time of year. I mean, we’re only a couple weeks away from training camp at this point. But you look at what the Orioles did before the all star break, they lose six or seven. You know, there were more than a few fans panicking a little bit that, you know, wondering what’s going on? And is this team starting to fall apart. And boy, they need the all star break so badly. And lo and behold, they win five in a row. And at the end of you know, at the end of play at the end of that Minnesota series, you’re you’re kind of saying the opposite. You’re wanting to keep playing because they’re playing so well and swinging the bat so well. So I mean, what more can you say you’re talking about a team that’s 19 games over 500. By winning percentage. It’s the best Orioles club at the All Star break since 1997. Which, by the way, is the best Orioles club of the last 40 years. So that’s nothing to just brush off. And they’re tied with the Tampa Bay Rays in the last column for first place in the Alp. So, I mean, this season, which let’s face it, and I wrote this at Baltimore positive.com The other day, not everything’s gone perfectly when you really think about it. I mean, there have been some some disappointing performances and some injuries here and there. But on the flip side, they’ve had some very surprising performances you and your keynote starting at 10 pitching in the All Star game on Tuesday night. But I think you just look at this team and its totality going back to that 10 game winning streak they had last year in early July. And since then, they played like one of the I think they’ve been one of the three or four best teams in baseball record wise since then. So I think you just look at the consistency that they’ve shown overall. And at this point, look, they’ll probably have another stretch that remind you of where they were just a couple of weeks ago when some concern was setting in, you know, that’s just the ebb and flow of a baseball season. But they’ve earned the benefit of the doubt. And there’s no reason at this point to doubt this club. And I’ll say this much when you’re 54 and 35. At the all star break. I’ll also say this, there’s no excuse for this team not to be in the postseason at this point. I mean, that’s where they’re sitting record wise. And I say that as a compliment to them. Success breeds greater expectations. And that’s where this Oreos club is at this point. And boy, it’s going to be a fun second half. Starting with this weekend series with the Marlins and welcoming welcoming in the Dodgers then go into Tampa and the Phillies. It’s not gonna get easier. I’ll say this much. They do have one of the more challenging schedules. Yeah.
Dennis Koulatsos 03:14
8Yeah, the next 20 games will really separate them from the pack or bring him back down. Hopefully they’ll do more of the former than the latter. Luke, but the pitching staff still looks to be very much mediocre. The Orioles consistently hit with the best of them. But that’s my biggest concern going forward. How does this pitching staff I don’t know what they have to do to to get better or and of course you have also. Gonzalez coming up right in the console is
Luke Jones 03:44
Grayson Rodriguez, Rodriguez, I’m
Dennis Koulatsos 03:45
sorry, Rodriguez coming up. They’ll have to make some room to have to make some roster moves. They brought up a bunch of young guys. You have Mateo you have foster Hicks perhaps. So there, there’s still some roster moves to be made. And do you expect them to get any movement before the the trade deadline?
Luke Jones 04:02
I mean, I think that’s the big question right now. I mean, first and foremost, I mean, to go back to what you said about the pitching. Look, is there pitching good enough to get them to the postseason? Absolutely. I don’t think there was any doubt about that at this point in time. However, when you get to the postseason, you don’t want to just you don’t want to just be happy to be there. Right. You want to give yourself the best possible chance to advance and I’m not saying that I necessarily am expecting the Orioles to get to the World Series this October. But if you want to give yourself the best possible chance to advance and play deep October and see what happens at that point in time. Certainly you look at the pitching. You know, I think you do have to credit the starting rotation for its last turn. Prior to the All Star break. I thought I thought they pitch very, very well. Their last turn through but they’re certainly questions I think you have to question. Certainly Cole urban. I think he’s going to be the guy that that leading up is out of the rotation once Grayson Rodriguez Call it up. And that could be within the next few days. I mean, I think at this point, Rodriguez has pitched well at triple A has cut down on the walks, I think you have to, you have to see what it looks like now because he’s just got too much talent. He has too much of a ceiling to not find out about him in the context of this year, not not just talking about the big picture. So you have that the bullpen I mean, my goodness. All Star Game struggles aside, Felix Batista has been amazing. This year, we saw Janja Cano, who I thought actually in the All Star game as much as I just downplayed Batista struggles, that might have been as good as Canos looked in a couple of weeks, you know, we’ve seen him a little little more struggle of late even though he’s still mostly gotten the job done.
8Dennis Koulatsos 05:46
And fairness, I like to see I rather see Batista give up a home run in the All Star game, then. No doubt, like games, you know, get no doubt of your system that Felix
Luke Jones 05:56
exactly, and he hadn’t pitched in a few days. And my goodness, I mean, one thing we forget about him, because he just from the moment he was in the majors last year, he’s just been so dominant. You do remember, he’s still young, and he doesn’t have a whole lot of experience. So for him to be on that stage. I think he was nervous. I think that was evident. But you know, to go back to your question, as it pertains to the pitching the trade deadline. I think if you’re Mike Elias, you have to be looking for that right opportunity that you kind of balance, not wanting to compromise your long term future, your long term chances at success, your your long term health of your organization and your farm system, but also recognizing that you’ve got a great opportunity this year. And we’ve talked about this a lot, Dennis, with going back to the 2019 ravens, you know, I can still remember us talking about the aftermath of that loss to the Titans. And so many people had the sentiment, and it was natural to feel that way, because it was so much disappointment, but people were saying, well, the Ravens were ahead of schedule this year. Well, and we’ve seen how that’s played out the last few years. And that’s not to say the Ravens will get to the Super Bowl this year. But the point is, these when you’re building something when you have a young core in place, you know, as the Ravens did and still do, and as the Orioles do at this point in time. You know, it’s it’s easy to look at these things in terms of it being like some kind of four or five year plan. But winning is not always linear in that way. So you want to take advantage. So that’s a long way to basically say that, I think if the right deal presents itself for Mike Elias, and you know, you’re not going to give up Jackson holiday, for example, you know, you’re not going to give up your absolute best prospect. But if the right deal is there to add a top half of the rotation, veteran starting pitcher, or end or and really ideally, you’d be able to do both of these things. You can add a high impact, late inning reliever to kind of go along with Cano to get to feel X Batista and you lengthen that bullpen a little bit in that way. Boy, I think it makes things that much more interesting, that much more intriguing, not just for this team to make the playoffs but to match up better now because as clearly the back end of the pen is fantastic. But middle Relief has been a little bit more of a challenge, as is the case with most teams and even many contenders. Let’s be clear about that. You know, it’s not as though every team has five Felix Batista is in their bullpen. So So you have that certainly you’d love to have. Find a starting pitcher out there that you can add that, I think for me ideally would be someone that isn’t just a rental for the rest of this year, but maybe has contractual control for next year, too. And so then you’re improving your outlook for 2024 as well. So you know, those are the things you’re looking at as it pertains to the trade deadline. And certainly Grayson Rodriguez can factor into that. And he might have more upside than any pitcher you can acquire realistically in a trade still. So you know, I don’t want to be dismissive of that. But you’d like to, you’d like to explore that opportunity. I’ll even throw John means could still have a chance to pitch for the Orioles later this season and be a factor for them very late. And maybe that’s maybe he pitches out of the bullpen who knows what we’ll see where he is physically coming off of last year’s Tommy John surgery but you mentioned the young players. And for me, that’s what’s still most exciting about this. We’ve talked so much about Gunnar Henderson how he struggled earlier in the year and that he had the fantastic June he’s hitting lead off for the Orioles at the moment, you know, especially with Mullins, having some struggles. But, you know, Colton Couser and Jordan Westbrook just arrived in the last two weeks and you’re talking about top 100 prospects and all the baseball you know, encounters case you’re talking about a former top five overall pick, just so you have the upside that they bring. And that also creates more competition among the incumbents which I think is a good thing as well. I mean, so many of these guys that have been accustomed to being in the lineup every day. Suddenly you’re looking added a little bit differently now. So it does, you know, creates a little more urgency. It allows Brandon high to rest guys a little more frequently that you can kind of get a guy off his feet and he’s not playing 13 straight days, you know when you’re in one of those stretches where you don’t have an off day So, and really with this young talent, it just makes you it makes you better. And I’ll even throw out. Heston cursed at another former first round pick who’s at triple A Norfolk and has raked since he’s gotten there. He can be an option for them late this season. I think the question now is becoming and this is a good problem to have. How do you create room for everyone, they’re already at a point now where, you know, I don’t know, if Jorge Mateo is going to be on the roster. You know, I don’t know if Ramona Reyes is going to be on the roster the rest of the year, you know, I don’t know if Adam Frazier is going to be on the roster the rest of the year, I don’t know if Ryan mountcastle There’s a possibility he could be option that triple A Norfolk, you know, you’re gonna have to make a move at some point because as the roster stood over the break, 14 position players 12 pitchers, you’re not gonna be able to have that roster alignment for too long. You can do that for a few games at a time. But I think, you know, we’re already going to start to see that roster crunch. And that’s where we come back to the trade deadline where, you know, one of those names that I just mentioned, do you include them in part of a trade package to get a lead inning reliever to get you know, as part of the package that’s also going to have to include a prospect or two to go get a starting pitcher that can really help you? So these are good problems to have? How many times? Dennis? Are we talking in late August about the 53 man roster and who’s on our bubble? And how are the Ravens going to keep this many cornerbacks or, you know, which offensive linemen are going to be their game day reserves. And you want to have tough decisions, you know, if you don’t have tough decisions, that means you don’t have as potent a roster so the Orioles are at a point now where you’re kind of looking at this thing and saying I don’t know. Yeah, I mean right now, as they’re getting ready to you know, as we’re getting ready to talk about this weekend series, you know where they’re gonna play the Marlins. You have Gunnar Henderson, you have Jordan Westberg. You have Ryan O’Hearn who has hit so well and has become your everyday for your regular first baseman against right handed pitching at the very least. Ramona Reyes, Jorge Mateo, Ryan mountcastle, Adam Frazier, you know, you’re not gonna see many 26 Man rosters have that, you know, seven infielders, so someone’s going to have to go in some shape or form, whether it’s optioning someone to the minors, whether it’s de f ng, someone, or I think the ideal move would be using one of those infielders that I mentioned to include in a trade for something else that you need. So, it’s going to be fascinating, but I’ll say once again, good problem to have because it sure beats where they were a couple years ago, were poor, you just had a few young players that were interesting. And then just a whole bunch of placeholders on the roster that had no chance to win on a nightly basis.
Dennis Koulatsos 12:56
No question about it. And of course, I actually watched the baseball graph for the first time in my life. You know, I love the NFL Draft, but I didn’t watch the first round and I saw the Orioles select Enrique Bradfield, Jr, a very, very fast young man and I had read prior to the draft that if, if you have, if you’re not sure about who to pick, take an infielder or a centerfielder. So, of course that went with a guy with a lot of speed. That had you know, had more difficulty at the plate last year versus the prior year. But again, another young player with with some great physical tools and an upside.
Luke Jones 13:34
8Yeah, absolutely. I mean, really, and we talked about this all the time in football too. You talk about strength up the middle, right. You know, your defensive tackle off ball linebacker safety, you know, on the defensive side of the ball there there’s there’s debate certainly because you talk about edge and corner and all that but in baseball, the teams who really know what they’re doing when it comes to the draft, you will see them draft shortstops center fielders catcher’s, and and of course pitching and obviously the Orioles have veered way more on the position player side, and they veered way more on drafting college players, only two high schoolers. They ended up drafting over what over the entire hour, if not the first couple of days. So, in the case of Enrique Bradfield, Jr. comes from a prestigious program at Vanderbilt. The SEC is second to none when it comes to college baseball kind of like how we talk about them in football. But the speed is really impressive. The defense is very impressive for what he may lack in power. You see on base ability he walked his walked more than he strikes out and you’re right, you know, his 2023 Season not quite as strong as 2022 season but I think it’s 17th overall. And look, I mentioned a few minutes ago talking about how success brings greater expectations, while success also brings lesser draft picks right you’re not picking second overall or fifth overall anymore. So that’s not to say that Mike Elias won’t do well because they have found talented players like Gunnar Henderson like Jordan Westberg who were not top five picks, but it does make it more challenging but I think at 17th I think the Orioles were pleased that Bradfield was available and I hesitate to cite this but other people have mentioned it so I’ll go ahead and do it anyway. You know, if you’re looking for a really simple kind of comp, you look him you watch him play and and some of the highlights. Here might be a little bit of Kenny Lofton now. Kenny Lofton is a guy who you know is a fringe at least talk about him in Hall of Fame terms. He’s not a Hall of Famer, but at least probably someone who garnered should have garnered a little more love from the voters in that regard. But you know if Bradfield can be a fraction of the player Kenny Lofton was I mean, you’re talking about a guy who was a Gold Glove caliber centerfielder a guy who stole I can’t remember what his high was but a guy that can steal 5060 bases for you. And he’s going to get on base for you and be a top of the order hitters. So, you know, I’ve already seen some people ask what that means for Cedric Mullins. It’s like okay, well, let’s see Bradfield in the minors for a year or two here before. Yeah, we don’t have to get ahead of ourselves time. But that’s but that’s also part of how this works in the same way that we’ve talked about it with the ravens, the draft being the bloodline to their success, you can’t resign everyone, you can’t extend everyone on lucrative contracts. So if Bradfield is the real deal, then you know what, we’ll have a different conversation about Cedric Mullins or some of their other outfielders. Or it might be that the Orioles need an ace starting pitcher, and a couple years as they’re on, they’re on their way to hoping to win a World Series and Bradfield ends up being the centerpiece that they trade. I mean, that’s just how this works. You know, I don’t say this to be cold. But the best general managers look at their players as assets, you know, that yeah, there’s a human element. Yeah, there’s, there’s some subjectivity to that, that you always have to account for, but you’re looking at them in terms of assets, and you have assets that are accumulating value, and you have depreciating assets. And, you know, when you’re talking about guys that are already in the major leagues, and guys that are in their late 20s, like Cedric Mullins, you have to at least ask that question, how much longer is he going to be that kind of a player for you? So yeah, you draft Enrique Bradfield, you give yourself another option, however, it shakes out. So I think you look at that I thought it was interesting that they took a, you know, they drafted a college pitcher earlier than they ever had at any point. You know, we’ve talked a lot about the pitching side. So we’ll be interesting to see how that plays out in terms of development. So, but I thought that, for me, the most refreshing part about the draft, Dennis was one, it was great to hear some of the pundits talk about where the or how far the Orioles have come in terms of their farm system and the talent they have accumulated over the last four or five years. But I think more than anything, it felt great to me that the draft felt secondary for the Orioles on Sunday, they got a big win in Minnesota. It was their fifth straight victory. Overall. News had broke earlier in the day that Jackson holiday and Kobe mail were being promoted and Jackson holidays all the way up already at buoy at 19 years old. There’s so many great things going on. And then it was a case of oh, they’re also going to draft some more players tonight. So whereas the last few years, the draft would be one of the biggest highlights of the entire calendar year for the Orioles because certainly you weren’t you know, before last year certainly weren’t seeing too much too much in terms of fun on the field. So that to me was the kind of the coolest thing about this draft. But we’ll certainly see how it plays out. And as I said, it does become more challenging for Mike Elias and the scouting department when you’re not picking at the beginning of each round as the Orioles now find themselves you know, picking 17 that this year and you know, if things hold up the rest of this season there’ll be picking even later next year.
Dennis Koulatsos 19:06
Oh as I watched the homerun Derby at the All Star game. And how special of a moment was for me to watch him and to have his dad pitch to him and whatnot. It also taught me how far that Rajput has come along. Right. It’s hard to believe it’s the second year and they’ve got a lot of these guys on the fast track holiday mayo. The future really is very bright for his ballclub.
Luke Jones 19:33
It really is and it’s so funny because I mean Adley rutschman It feels like he’s been around forever in some ways. And that’s what happens when you’re the first overall pick in 2019. He was Mike Elias his first draft pick. And and let’s Let’s call a spade a spade and I know COVID complicated this a little bit but rutschman could have been in the majors late in 2021 You know that would have been unreasonable whatsoever. So but you know, the Orioles were in a place where they weren’t going to be enough. rush to call up young players because they were terrible. And you don’t want to waste service time. But I thought for me the coolest thing about Monday night in the derby one, it’s neat. Being a kid from the Pacific Northwest, he had a chance to do that in Seattle. So I thought that was cool. But I for me, and this, and lucky, you know, Louis, Robert ended up beating them out in the first round, and he was eliminated. But I thought maybe it still may have been the coolest moment of the night for the Home Run Derby. And then the other guys put on a show, don’t get me wrong, but when he gets his bonus time, and he just so casually, like, Oh, I’m gonna hit right handed now. And he just starts hitting bombs from the right side. I mean, it’s just like, that’s a heck of a flex right there. That’s pretty cool.
Dennis Koulatsos 20:43
So you can get that out. And and you got a lot of love on that tweet, rightfully so. But yeah, it was a great moment. And it’s it just seemed like, you know, he just had such great chemistry with his dad, particularly for the race, because that was putting the ball right there. And he will just knock it out of the park. And it was just, like you said the way cool moment. It was
8Luke Jones 21:03
very cool. And again, you you emphasize this, I mean, I talked more about him starting to, you know, swing from the right side, but the fact that he got to have that moment with his dad, I mean, I think for any of us who, especially in baseball, but any sport, really no memories in the backyard of whether it was with your father, your mother, or your uncle, you had an older cousin, someone, anyone special in your life that taught you the game. And baseball is a little different in that way. And I’ll say that and look, I’ve I’ve never shied away from it. As much as I love football, baseball has always been my first true love as it pertains to sports. And, you know, I seeing that, I mean, I couldn’t help but think of my own dad throwing me these crazy Major League pop ups in the backyard that felt like they were leaving the atmosphere to, you know, in the eyes of a seven year old, you know, and, and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in that, and I’m sure lots of people watching, we’re thinking of, you know, their own father, their own mother, their older brother or whoever, you know, play baseball with them in the backyard. So it’s just a cool moment. And I think I’ll say this much, you know, Adley rutschman, you know, doesn’t have a big homerun number. I mean, he of the participants, he had the fewest homeruns at the break, which was fine, you know, nothing, nothing to be ashamed about there. I mean, he has what 12 home runs at the All Star break, which is a perfectly acceptable number, but he put out a nice show. He did better than I thought he would, quite frankly, no, I thought he’d do okay, but I certainly didn’t expect him to be in a position where Luis Robert had to put up a monster number to knock them out in the first round. So it was fun. You know, it’s the second time in three years if you’re if you recall, Trey man Seanie had the chance to be in the derby a couple years ago. And you know, that story speaks for itself with you know, him returning from cancer and having that kind of spotlight. So pretty cool for the Orioles specifically to have that kind of a showing two times in the last three years. And for me, it was the highlight of all star week as it pertained to the Orioles presence there. You know, Batista had had a rough go of it, it happens. You know, I saw a few people even had a couple people asked me if I was concerned about it. I said not Not in the slightest, you know, to your point. Better than that even a regular season game, let alone talking about the postseason. So you know that aside, you know, Austin Hays gotta hit your Cano pitched well. We talked about rutschman in the derby. rutschman was hitless in his only at bat but hit a hard line drive the right field that was caught. So it was a good All Star week for the Orioles. And now we get back to the business of on the field. And this team starting the second half. And you know, as I wrote it, Baltimore positive.com, easily the most exciting second half they’ve had in at least seven years, because I’ll remind the 2016 Orioles were in first place at the All Star break. And they did make the playoffs as a wildcard. So but in terms of the anticipation, the excitement, the upside, the thought that the best is yet to come. We’re talking 2526 years, that 97 team, which that was a different team that was a very veteran lead and teach or there weren’t many young players on that team at all. So the idea that the Orioles are in this position at this point, with this many young players more on the way. Yeah, I still, you know, and Nestor and I talked about this the other day, ownership, there’s still questions there as far as you want to be when the time comes willing to augment and spend more money on payroll, spend more money to keep some of these young players. So that’s still in the back of my mind. And you know, that that’s not even the back of my mind that’s still on my mind in terms of where this team is going big picture to try to really maximize what they have going right now. But, boy, yeah, the overall sentiment you heard from the pundits during the all star festivities was it’s a good time to be an Orioles fan. And you know, as far as the play on the field, there’s no doubt about it.
Dennis Koulatsos 25:00
Look, also, I guess at the forefront of our minds has to be the least situation. John Angelo’s had said earlier this year, that would have been a nice quote unquote gift, if they could have the least done by the the all star game, it seems to be no movement there. And I’m guessing from a business perspective that if you’re the Orioles, the longer you hold out, theoretically, the better the terms you’re being offered are going to get. But there has to be a point where, you know, the governor of Maryland and whatnot, walk away and say, This is our best deal. But it is a little bit concerning to me, especially since baseball is talking about expansion and putting a team in Nashville and other places. I know that Austin, Texas had been mentioned. Someplace, Mexico, perhaps which would, I think, would be fantastic with a sport to have a team in Mexico. But just your thoughts on on the lease situation.
Luke Jones 25:57
Yeah, I mean, I don’t have any concern about, you know, the worst case scenario, as far as relocation. But in the case of John angelos, we’ve already seen him not be forthcoming and honest in the past, so not surprised, you know, to hear, you know, what wasn’t a proclamation or a promise, but him allude to the All Star break is a goal to get the lease and, and look, maybe even as you and I are talking there, get ready, getting ready to announce it, you know, I mean, these things can also be done behind closed doors, you do have a new governor in place. You know, so maybe it is a case of we’re really trying to not leak information to the medium, we’re going to announce this. So. But you know, as Nestor and I have talked about for a number of years now, you know, for me, either, there, there are a couple factors at work here. Yes, the lease is an issue until it’s not an issue anymore, in the same way that Lamar Jackson’s long term contract was an issue until it’s not an issue anymore, despite fans just wanting to say, Well, yeah, they’ll get it done. They’ll get it done, they’ll get it done. And we saw how they did get it done. But boy, it was challenging. And it was unsettling for long periods of time with that, so. So you have that factor. But for me, and I know Nestor has talked so much about this, and it pertains to so many other factors downtown, and making the city much more of a destination again, and clearing up and improving perceptions, perceptions that are fair or unfair, quite frankly. But, you know, there’s, there’s having a lease, and there’s wanting to make sure this can thrive. The Orioles, the surrounding area, as John Angeles has talked a lot about wanting to build up the surrounding area and, and kind of emulate things like what Atlanta has done in other areas where, you know, you have shops, you have restaurants in some places. I mean, I know, Cincinnati, for example, between their football stadium and the ballpark, you know, where the Reds play, there’s actually even apartments, you know, for for young 20 somethings to overpay and, and to live close to both right out of college. So, you know, I think you do want to be careful and, and really think about how to do this right, you know, not just to not just sign a lease and give the Orioles you know, all this money and you know, they’re gonna get the money. I mean, the public funding goes towards stadium everywhere in this country, you know, whether whether you like that or not, I mean, I’m someone who has been against that, you know, from a just a principle standpoint. But I also understand that if you don’t do it, someone else will do it somewhere else. And, you know, we’re seeing that kind of sort of play out with with the athletics and as it appears that are heading to Las Vegas, although Oakland certainly made some made efforts to keep them but you know, I think you just want to do this, right? You want to get it where you can, you know, that the Orioles can thrive and that the ballpark area can thrive and that the changes that, you know, improvements and renovations and whatever else they might build in that surrounding area. You do it right. You don’t want to be hasty in that way. So, yeah, I’d love to hear, you know, news of a 15 or 20 year lease being announced an hour from now. But you do want to make sure you get it right. And certainly, you know, we already know that there’s $600 million that are already kind of earmarked for renovations and improvements to the ballpark. You know, that’s coming from from, you know, the state government, but, you know, you want to make sure you’re you’re doing this right. And from that standpoint, if it has to be a case where they have to draw out negotiations a little bit longer, whether they need to do a short term another year or six months or something like that. But to bring it back to you know, do I think that if they don’t have that lease, you know, a long term lease struck, you know, by the end of the year do I think that means the Orioles are leaving? No, I don’t think that whatsoever. I just think it’s just a case of John Angeles trying to get more money out of the state of Maryland and you know, from that standpoint, people can feel how they want to feel about that and I know What my thoughts would be about that, you know, considering, you know, the Orioles in a lot of ways haven’t necessarily lived up to their end of the bargain over the last 30 years as it pertains to being a destination downtown and, you know, drawing, you know, more more people to the ballpark and whatnot. But, you know, these things are, at the end of the day, I’ll, I’ll be the first to say that it’s above my paygrade and a lot of ways, but certainly, I expect something to get done, you know, something has to get done as and let’s be clear, you know, even if you’re fearing the worst case scenario, considering where the Orioles and where the Angeles family has, where they have been, as it pertains to perception with Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball and Bud Seelig, and the massive dispute with the Nationals and all that I don’t think you’re going to be you would ever see a climate in Major League Baseball, where they’re going, they would even, you know, even if Angeles was pondering that word, that worst case scenario for Baltimore, not so sure, his partners would be overly open or cooperative to that, given how, how much the Oreos have, frankly, been a pain in their butts over the last, you know, 15 years or so, you know, as as pertained to mass and that so we’re talking about it, though, because it’s an issue and it won’t be an issue when they announce a new lease. So until they do that, you know, we’ll we’ll have to at least acknowledge, you know, that that being a factor and certainly it’s a factor as it pertains to the long term health of the organization, even here in Baltimore.
Dennis Koulatsos 31:32
8All right, look, Cincinnati Bengals, le Dela Cruz, steal second base, third base, then he steals home. This guy is a phenom. A lot of fun to watch. izany
Luke Jones 31:44
le de la Cruz, I had a chance to watch him for you know, I was there for the opener of the red series. A couple of weeks ago. I mean, special talent. There’s no question about it. And yeah, I think you saw this with the all star game and Nestor and I talked about the all star game a good bit and look, the the uniforms are awful. The uniforms are just so awful in so many ways. First of all, they’re just terrible in general, they’re especially the National League. That was a terrible look. Yeah, I mean, blue with black pants. I mean, just Oh, but that aside, and you know, I know Nestor and I disagreed. I love hearing players miked up during the all star game. I would never want to see that during the regular season. But for an exhibition, I think it’s really fun. You get to know some of these guys. But you know, you put all the bells and whistles aside. And you look around you see the rosters. You see the number of players from all over the world whether we’re talking about Otani so many players from the Caribbean. Yeah, I mean, it, baseball more and more is truly becoming much more and has been for a while I’ve not even seen becoming it is such an international game. And to see that on display, and you know, you mentioned Dela Cruz, Dominican, you know, that’s special, and to see the number of young players in the game today. I mean, I know he’s a Tampa Bay Ray, but Randy arozarena You know, one of my favorite players to watch in baseball, just with the the athleticism and the enthusiasm with which he plays. I mean, it’s just it’s so much fun. And seeing this now with the Orioles with the Orioles having some of these young players that are not that Adley rutschman. Lashing in the same way that you’re talking about de la Cruz or someone like that, but you know, with rutschman and Gunnar Henderson and now Colton Couser, who’s got some swagger to him. We’ve already seen that in his brief time with the Orioles and Jordan Westbrook doing what he’s done. I mean, when you have all these guys that are in their early to mid 20s that are starting for you and playing and contributing for you. And are some of these guys, you know, in the case of rutschman and Henderson already among your very best players. That’s really exciting. And I think for the game of baseball itself, you know, when you have a de la Cruz, we’ve talked a lot about Shohei Otani, you have these players. It’s just I think, for baseball specifically that let’s face it is its audience is older, although some data here recently is trending for younger, you know, a little bit younger than recent years, which is a great sign for the game. But I think it’s also a reflection of just how many talented young players you have in the sport. And you know, there are things about baseball, I’d still like to see them do better and things that they could change and improve but as it pertains to the talent on the field. Boy, I mean, there are just some really special 20 early 20 somethings out there on the field that are just so impressive. With la Dela Cruz being the latest example of that, certainly.
Dennis Koulatsos 34:42
Well they and the changes they made to the game that I’ve talked to you about a mythos Ium the pitch clock, the ghost runner, not being able to shift I think those things have opened up the game and attracted fans on the fence like myself to watch more games and I Been to six games this year and I gotta tell you I don’t think I’ve been to six games the last decade combined. And I can’t tell you the last time I knew every player on the roster for the Orioles I can’t tell you that they knew anything about the triple A player. So I do think this was at least for me it’s a really good thing with all the changes they’ve made to the game when I do think it’s perhaps the turn the corner from losing fans to gaining fans.
Luke Jones 35:25
Yeah, I think that’s fair and I certainly here locally with the Orioles the the timing of them becoming irrelevant and more talented and better on the field. How certainly, certainly is. I mean, that’s the big factor. You know, if the Orioles were still losing 110 games, I’m guessing maybe you would have gone to one or two.
8Dennis Koulatsos 35:43
Maybe opening day. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s
Luke Jones 35:45
reality. At the end of the day, it’s a business. It’s just like a restaurant, right? If a restaurant serving lousy food, you’re not gonna go there. Yeah. So so in that way, that’s certainly help. But yeah, you look at the rules. I don’t like the extra inning runner at second base, I get it. I I’ve said for a while my age
Dennis Koulatsos 36:01
at my age, I like it. I will
36:04
8say this game company.
Dennis Koulatsos 36:05
And that’s
Luke Jones 36:06
fine. I would say this, I would like to see them modify and do this play the 10th inning normally play the 11th inning normally, then go to that if you play beyond that, but you know, it’s fine. I don’t lose sleep over it. Let’s be clear about that. So,
Dennis Koulatsos 36:21
but I wasn’t able to sleep, I can’t watch the 17 and end game, I just can’t do that. I’m going to bed
8Luke Jones 36:28
but But even now, because the game has gotten shorter, I can tolerate you know, you can tolerate a couple extra. That’s a good so but but no. The pitch clock, the shift. Although I I do think it’s funny because there were people who thought the shift would impact things more dramatically than they actually have, right? Because the pitching is just you know, you the pitching. Especially when you get into these bullpens. And you have these guys like Felix Batista throwing 102 miles per hour and they’ve got wicked breaking balls, it is just so tough. But I like Phil eliminating the ship from an aesthetic standpoint, I do have to admit that and that’s speaking as a baseball nerd who loves these teams that were able to figure out an edge by shifting their infielder. So, but it really comes down to the pitch clock, it’s made for a better pace, a better game. And I think it’s been a great positive for the game. So having that coupled with the Orioles being much better, you know, you’re not alone in your set in that sentiment, and even seeing some data that was released earlier this week. And I don’t know if it was majorly I don’t think it was Major League Baseball. So if it was more independent, that lends more credibility to it. But it talked about the median age of ticket buyers. And younger than it’s been over the last four or five, six years, you know, it’s trending younger, which is a good sign. Because, you know, we’ve talked about how old baseball is audiences overall. So great to see that great to see more young people interested in the game, still a long way to go in that department and a lot of competition, you know, as I’ve especially now as we get into, we’re two weeks away from training camp opening up and we’re about a month away from the preseason schedule opening up and we’re two months away from football starting, you know, the regular season. So NFL still king, not just in Baltimore, but everywhere that has the NFL, but it’s certainly exciting to see what the Orioles specifically are doing and the changes that baseball has made overall, I think it’s certainly been a positive for the sport.
Dennis Koulatsos 38:30
Yeah, for sure, Luke and nothing really earth shattering for the Ravens front that know that hired a guy from the big 10 to put in a front office. But this is the time of the year that no news is very good news for the team.
Luke Jones 38:42
Yeah, overall, I agree with that. I mean, about the only thing you’re wondering at this point is okay, you know, is there a Justin Houston signing? Is there a signing to bring in another corner? I mean, I think that’s what, you know, we’ve talked about that, we’ll continue to talk about that, whether that signing comes now or whether we’re into early August. I mean, we’ve seen the Ravens add players even after training camp started, who ended up making a big impact. So but yeah, it’s been very quiet on that front and to your point, you know, because what you’re alluding to is some kind of trouble right? You know, someone you know, there’s an arrest or there’s a some kind of suspension, or something like that. So in that case, no news is good news. But I think there’s certainly still some intrigue as far as what Eric Acosta can still do to this roster. I think specifically on the defense defensive side of the ball whether you’re talking about another edge guy like a Justin Houston, whether you’re talking about another outside corner, you know, I don’t think it’s going to be Marcus Peters. If they add in an outside veteran outside corner it it might just be Kyle fuller being added to the mix. You know, if he’s healthy coming back from the ACL, which, you know, he’s that member he, he injured himself in week one, so he’s had time to rehab so and I don’t know that that’s just me speculating. You know, I’ve kind of been off the you know, as you know, I’ve been off the grid the last couple of weeks. So, we’ll see how that plays out. But yeah, It’s been nice, because the Orioles have been so good, so relevant to not have to force the Ravens conversation right now. Like, it’s okay that the Ravens have gone away for a few weeks at the moment, you know that they’re gonna be there in a couple of weeks and we’ll talk about training camp plenty. And I’ll give you all my observations and my 12 ravens thoughts at Baltimore positive.com. But, you know, as I’ve always said to people, even during these seasons, where the baseball season has just been woeful for the Orioles where people talk about I can’t wait for the season, I can’t wait for training camp to start. And I always say, hey, let’s not waste our summer away. It’s been nice from a an Orioles context that no one’s wishing the summer away. And that, yeah, there’s still going to be plenty of excitement for the Ravens. And you know, once week one kicks off the NFL is king, we get that. But in the meantime, it’s been fun to see how much interest there is surrounding the Orioles because it is such a young, intriguing, exciting club. And as I wrote it, Baltimore positive.com. The best is yet to come. And that’s what’s really exciting. There a competitive window is just opening right now. So you know, that doesn’t mean anything’s guaranteed over the next few years. But every they have everything going for them right now as it pertains to young players controllable talent, they should have flexibility, I stress should because again, whereas ownership in this process should have flexibility to add payroll. So that, you know they they’ve continued to draft and develop well, so everything is right there for this team to not just make the playoffs this year, but to make the playoffs in subsequent years and not just make the playoffs but have a really good shot to win a World Series at some point here over over the next five, six years at least.
Dennis Koulatsos 41:43
8Now hopefully more people start going to the stadium to support this team in the second half of the season. But back to the Ravens The only thing people have been asking me about his left guard and I tell him the same thing I tell him every year I don’t get geeked up about training camp OTAs etc. When running around in shorts, John Harbaugh will put on he’ll make the guys put on the pads and whether it’s John Simpson or Ben Cleveland or my Lisa on my veil Loulou the kid from Oregon, the best guy in the winter job so don’t worry about that left guard position that particularly before they put on the pads
Luke Jones 42:17
I’ll give you a hint Dennis just call them big Salah yeah that goes by Salah you know is first name is Marla Salah
42:25
allah sallallahu ala last the last four letters
Dennis Koulatsos 42:29
of his first names like Yeah, exactly going forward. But again, if we don’t know what big smile looks like, with pads on at the pro levels to to me, until he goes up against those defensive tackles of the of the Ravens. We won’t know until the end. We’ll know later on as camp progresses. Yeah, for sure that some guys will get more wrapped with the first team and they’ll start separating themselves. So look, it is what it is. But they have enough at the other four positions. I don’t think that left guard is going to be a big deal. Ben Cleveland, the contract here for him right when he was your GA when at the same time time was Todd Monken. I wonder I didn’t go back to look at that. Probably was.
8Luke Jones 43:07
He was he was it’s not a contract here for him though. This is your threat. Kibito year for pivotal. Yeah, there
Dennis Koulatsos 43:12
you go. Yeah, so yeah, I mean,
Luke Jones 43:15
I think you’re right. I mean, left guard. First of all, it’s a left guard competition anyway, you know, it’s not the most it’s important, but it’s not the most exciting, intriguing, where, you know, if you’re talking about started, you know, a quarterback battle or a battle for the starting running back job, whatever it is. But But yeah, I mean, they haven’t they haven’t put on the pads yet. At this point. You know, I think I’ll say this much the clock’s ticking for Ben Cleveland, because it is starting to feel a little Tyree Phillips to me. And Tyree Phillips last year was entering his third year and we saw what happened. They tried to train him at the end of the preseason, and they ended up waiving him then. So I think for Ben Cleveland, the fact that they actually had him playing some other positions. Maybe that was a good sign for his roster standing but did not appear to be a good sign for him to be there starting left guard, but it’s spring, it’s OTAs. It’s mini camp, maybe they were trying to send him a message. You know, maybe maybe it was as simple as that. So, but we’ll see how it plays out whether it is John Simpson, whether it is Ben Cleveland, whether it is big salah, or as I alluded to talking about the corner and edge rusher situation, they’re starting left guard may not be on the roster right now, they might get to the second week of August and say you know what, let we’re gonna swap fourth round picks with and I’ll just throw the Tennessee Titans just as an example. You know, I don’t even know who their guards are off the top of my head for a veteran guard who’s in the last year of his contract, and we’ve got a young guy that we’d like to play, we’re kind of rebuilding or reloading or whatever you want to call it. Let’s move him to Baltimore. And you know, well, or you swap a fourth round pick for a fifth round pick or something like that and get it done and you take on a little bit of salary and you get a player that improves your floor there. So yeah, well See how it plays out but certainly on the offensive side of the ball beyond just the overall intrigue, as it pertains to Lamar Jackson and Todd Monken his offense and Odell Beckham and ze flowers. Left Guard is that spot that’s wide open right now and we’ve said it doesn’t need to be a superstar there. But I think you just need to have someone that can give me a high floor you know, someone that you can plug in there and say, You know what, this guy can be the worst out of our five starting offensive lineman, but just so he’s not a liability and not giving us problems there if he can just be fine. Playing between Ronnie Stanley and Tyler Linder bomb. I think the Ravens offensive line we’ll be more than fine with that kind of scenario. So we’ll see how it plays out. No, it’s intriguing to think that big Salah was even lining up there during mandatory minicamp but yeah, let’s wait till the pads come on to really see what this competition looks like.
Dennis Koulatsos 45:50
8100% looks great having you back please tell our listeners where they can find your Baltimore positive 15 7am wn S T, your blog all the other great things that you do.
Luke Jones 46:01
Absolutely. I encourage everyone to follow us on Twitter at wn s t you can follow me personally at Baltimore Luke You can also follow me on threads as that’s kind of the new social media trying it out at the very least I haven’t done much we never heard of it. Never heard of it. That’s yeah, that is I guess that’s Mark Zuckerberg version of Twitter. Oh, yeah, I just saw everyone doing it. I thought at least create an account but we’ll see what what happens there but but I will be live at the ballpark over the weekend as the Orioles open up the second half against the Miami Marlins. The Dodgers come to town after that plenty of excitement from Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Check out my blog at Baltimore positive.com. The latest on the Orioles. My 12 Orioles thoughts over the all star break my thoughts on the upside of this club coming out of the all star break and how they can get even better, which is saying plenty for a team that’s 19 games over 500 and tied in the last column for first place with the Tampa Bay Rays. But you can check that out. I’ll have plenty on the Ravens as we’re a little less than two weeks away now from the start of training camp. It’ll be here before we know it so be looking at the roster and some position battles things of that nature at Baltimore positive.com You want to be on the wn St. Baltimore positive tech service sponsored by coons for the Baltimore any significant local sports news sent directly to your mobile mobile device. Whether it is the Ravens signing a Justin Houston or signing Another notable veteran player if it’s the Orioles calling up another prospect, although not sure that there any that are imminent at this point maybe has to curse that as we get a little bit closer to August in September. But any significant local sports news sent directly to your mobile mobile device via the wn St. Baltimore positive tech service sponsored by Coons, Florida Baltimore, and of course, anything throughout the week on AM 15 Seven, eight with Nestor, any Oriole sound from the ballpark. And of course, as training camp opens up in just a couple of weeks, ravens players and coaches interviews from Owings Mills, check out all of that at Baltimore positive.com. Alright, look, I
Dennis Koulatsos 47:58
appreciate you your time, your thoughtfulness and we’ll talk to you in a couple of weeks. I want to take a quick break here. Get some r&r
Luke Jones 48:05
Sounds great Dennis, enjoy your trip. Enjoy some rest well deserved and I appreciate when we reconvene in a couple of weeks we’ll have a we’ll have some early training camp impressions to share. You’ll have to catch me up on all that sounds good Dennis,
Dennis Koulatsos 48:18
my friend Stay well. There it goes. Luke Jones here 1570 Am WLC we’ll take a quick break and come back right after this.
