Luke and Nestor discuss the Orioles going West again without closer Felix Bautista and how a new cast of relief pitchers will be auditioning for October baseball as the team plays in Arizona and Anaheim.
Nestor Aparicio 30:01
Let’s get a little baseball in here just as a shot in the middle of the week, they’re going to the West Coast, they want another series. They are where they are. They’ve, they’re holding their mountain bobbleheads up to the symbol gods and, you know, trying this thing with the UCLA. I mean, it feels like after a couple of days fans almost get Christmassy about it like, well, maybe he’s not really maybe he’ll come back maybe, you know, maybe they haven’t. They haven’t said anything. And you know, there’s a little bit of that. And I’m like, No, when he’s showing up and he’s, he’s out there smiling and in the dugout, and, you know, part of the television package isn’t home crying? I I don’t know what what do you know, you’re around the team or I mean, I, I think when they say UCL, I say he shouldn’t pitch this year, if he had an agent or a mother or father, they’d say, no matter if you can win the World Series win the World Series without him give him a ring, but don’t have his arm up for life. Right?
Luke Jones 30:57
Well, it’s already messed up. I mean, yeah, that’s part of the issue. Um, I’ll go back to what I said to you a few days ago. And look, there’s been nothing new from the team, at least, you know, in the early days, early days of the week and during the White Sox series. I think part of it is you are trying to get garner as much information gather as much information as you can. You’re trying to solicit opinions, second opinions, third opinions. But I’ll go back to what I said, really from Jump Street when they announced you know, when Mike Elias talked to us in the dugout on Saturday, this past weekend. And right off the bat says some degree of injury to the UCL. That’s not a good sign. In terms of where this is heading. I’ve covered plenty of pitchers plenty of situations where a pitcher, the end result ultimately was that pitcher getting Tommy John, and if there’s more wiggle room, if there’s less certainty about it, you know, if it’s kind of, you know, 5050, let’s say for lack of a better way of describing it, they don’t throw out UCL, they’ll just say the elbow, you know, there’s some inflammation, but we don’t think there’s structural damage, you know, we’re going to shut them down for a while. The PRP injections were all the rage for a while in terms of pitchers getting a platelet rich plasma injections to try to help healing. I remember the Orioles doing that with Dylan Bundy and your
Nestor Aparicio 32:18
doctor. You’re almost like, Lewis Yoakam at this point. You’re You’re Dr. James Andrews Jones is what Yeah,
Luke Jones 32:26
yeah. Not quite. But my point is, they, they very much try to avoid using the term UCL until it gets to the point where they know that that’s where it’s headed. And the fact that they mentioned it right away. I think most people, and I think most fans recognize it’s probably where this thing is headed. And I think the difference here is given the timing, we’re almost to September, right? You know, we’re late August, early September, the seasons, regular season that has one month ago, we’re at a point now where even at Felix Batista got Tommy John surgery later today, or tomorrow, or the day after that he’s
Nestor Aparicio 33:04
missing next year isn’t his next year is gone anyway,
Luke Jones 33:07
you know, barring like a miraculous recovery. I mean, Tommy John will on the short end is 12 months, you know, that John means had it last April. And now he did have a setback that had a muscle up back muscle issue that that slowed them down in the middle of the, you know, back in May, or whenever
Nestor Aparicio 33:26
they were saying when that happened, you and I were saying All Star break on John means that’s what we felt like, and it’s six weeks later, and he’s pitching he’s pitching. Right, right. Yeah,
Luke Jones 33:35
I mean, the original best case scenario for John Meade’s was regarded as maybe June or July and then in May, he had the muscle issue in his upper back. And that’s what pushed it back to August and him pitching for the Orioles in September, the way it looks like it’s probably gonna, we’re gonna see I’m just gonna be what it looks like and how he fits
Nestor Aparicio 33:54
that dream scenario that we would talk about them being 35 games over 500 without John means and having him come back into the situation in September.
Luke Jones 34:02
I mean, yeah, we would have said that and March, I’d taken that. Well, how about that detail Hall, not being a factor in the rotation whatsoever. Now he’s back in the bullpen. Grayson Rodriguez struggling to the point where they sent him to the minors and now
Nestor Aparicio 34:17
he looks like he looks like psych Kofax at this point, right. Like for a while.
Luke Jones 34:22
He and Bradish had been their best starters. You know, I mean, Bradish has been to me Bradish has been the ace. I mean, he’s been that good since a you know, April he was choppy, you know, he had to he got hit on the foot and his first start and had to go to the IOL but since then he’s still not the best pitchers in the American League. I mean, look at the numbers. The numbers support that so but Grayson Rodriguez has been right there with him that those two guys right now Nestor if I saying name your postseason starting rotation, everyone’s gonna say those two guys. Very, very likely Cramer. Third, but the point is, they what they’ve had where they are right now, going back to what you just said knowing that John mean wouldn’t be a factor until September and even then we don’t know if he’s gonna be much of a factor anyway. And what happened with with Grayson Rodriguez, DL Hall
Nestor Aparicio 35:10
and dude if they’re gonna win the World Series kynos gonna be have to be the guy, right? I mean he came out a couple outs on a couple extra outs on Thursday night. Like, that’s what they’re going to have to do and gray right i mean and figure it out because they don’t have a closer he’s next man up and the same way that we got rid of Lopez last year Batista stepped up. So you cross your fingers and say, If connote get pitched away. He didn’t make for three weeks and nachos. Yeah, they can win the World Series.
Luke Jones 35:39
It certainly helps. And now I’ll also say you still need guys to step up to replace what Cano used to be well, because I said that about Felix Batista last year when he stepped into Jorge Lopez his role, part of the problem the Orioles had late last year even though they almost made the playoffs and they were a great story. And they fought and they competed. They missed Felix Batista in the eighth inning last year when that happened because he was pitching the night then so yeah, the point is, yeah, yeah, Cano is going to handle most of the closing duties, I do think, and we saw him on Tuesday night, Danny Coolum. Big outs, he gets lefties out. He also gets right. He’s out. He’s pitched well for them. I think TL Hall will factor in there. Jacob Webb has done a nice job for them. We’ll see about Fujinami. I mean, the confidence meter seems to be creeping back up. And then well, what happened on Tuesday where he’s pitching in a what a nine run game or eight run game, and he made you nervous in the ninth inning. So but the point is, Tyler Wells is going to be in that mix once he’s recalled from from the minors, but because they’re grooming him to be a reliever now the rest of the year. So the point is, they have options. Are any of those guys as dominant as Felix Batista? No, of course not. But there have been scenarios in the past. And you can even look at, you know, I heard someone mentioned, I think of the 2013 Red Sox, you know, what were an example of that they lost their closer that season. And, you know, you’ll find examples where things like that will happen to a team and someone else has to step up. And really, it needs to be multiple people stepping up. It comes down to Yeah, Cano has to be the Cano we saw in May in June. And you really would like to see DL Hall be able to pitch high leverage for them and you’d like to see, Tyler wells do that. And you know, we’ll see if Jacob Webb can continue what he’s done. Danny coulomb has been good. Give CNL Perez credit. You know, so many people, probably including myself, if I’m being honest, we’re ready to DFA him back in late May or June. And, you know, he’s since he had the arm issue. Earlier in the summer. He’s pitch really, really well. You know, he had a little bit of a reset and he’s been really good for them. So the point is the bullpen while you’re missing your stud and there’s no replacing him because Felix Batista was the best reliever best closer in baseball this year. There’s a reason why he was getting sayang consideration. That’s how good he was. But you’re not replacing that but you still have some other arms that are interesting in that bullpen. And, by the way, I’ll also throw this out there, go take a look at what the starter numbers are, since the all star break. They don’t get as deep into games as some other rotations. I get that but their starting pitching has been much better. Of late really, since the all star break. It’s been much improved. And that’s even with Kyle Gibson not being great. And Jack Flaherty kind of being a flop so far, you know, so but they’ve gotten really good work from Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kramer, and Corbin is pitch well for them as well since they went to a six man rotation. So, you know, they’re in a position where I certainly think they can survive, not having Batista, getting to October, and I think they can still win the division. I mean, my goodness, the rays have had all kinds of injuries as well. So it’s not as though the Orioles are down on their luck here. The rays have had all kinds of things happen all from a health standpoint, not even getting into the wander Franco thing and how ugly that is. But, you know, October, not having Batista in the ninth inning. Yeah, that hurts. I mean, there’s no way to downplay that. But we’ll see how this bullpen takes shape here over the last month of the season. And I do think there is some potential there to get some meaningful contributions from some guys who, frankly, haven’t been in the bullpen all year but DL Hall Tyler wells right off the bat, those are two guys that I’m really going to be watching closely here over the next four weeks or so, because I do think they can help them. You know, in an ensembles ensemble effort to replace Felix Batista,
Nestor Aparicio 39:40
my pal Joe Enoch has been sharing every day like 29 for Ken singleton 28 You know, magic number days as we go through this. I just around baseball watching Anaheim Angels like try to give half with your team away. I think the American League West it’s like a total catfight with these three teams right now makes it interesting. We play Arizona this weekend. They’re on that, that that stepladder of trying to make it I mean, they’re gonna be playing hard this weekend. They’re they’re playing for their lives. And there’s a mix of that, that you know, for every white sox team that throws a starter out there on Tuesday night or Monday night that shoves the bats up your backside. And you’re like, Whoa, I thought you guys were out of this. It really is about what pitchers they’re going to see the rest of the way where they go. And even if they saw the Anaheim Angels next week, if they saw a healthy Otani, that would make it a much tougher night. They’re not going to see that and obviously, by the time the Orioles get to Anaheim on Tuesday night, the place is going to be on fire.
Luke Jones 40:37
Yeah, yeah. I mean, what an odd scenario where you put all those players on waivers and you know, talking about the luxury tax threshold and saving money and all, but from a competitive standpoint, it’s it’s been interesting, and I saw a couple people make this point. There’s been so much talk, you know, whether we’re talking about the Astros and cubs years ago, the Orioles when they were in the midst of their rebuild, you know, where you’d hear people talk about, you know, these, you know, stripped down to the screws, bare bones rebuild scenarios, and people talking about that being bad for baseball. And look, I’m not gonna sit here and say that multi year, rebuilds are fun or good for the game or anything like that. Sometimes they’re necessary. But what the angels did, I mean, you want to talk about a bad for baseball scenario where you just flat out put good players on waivers because you want to try to save money. You know, I’ll be interested to see what you know what this looks like in terms of the union and grievances potentially and it’ll be interesting to see what happens there but I guess all these guys are gonna be available and we’re gonna see teams put in claims and teams trying to block so and so forth.
Nestor Aparicio 41:43
Talking about competitive I’ll get fresh with you right now. And I thought about this the other night with the Orioles like, just, they’re really good. I said to my wife, we’re making dinner I’m like, this might be the best team I’ve ever seen them have. Because it’s been put together with like raw players. This isn’t David Wells, and we’re gonna sign Jimmy key or Raphael Palmer Alomar or even the hired guns right late 70s where they made the deal for McGregor and Dempsey and sort of fleece them and and the Yankees at that time and did what they did. But the ORS were the team not signing players then they were the ones not giving Don Baylor money not giving Reggie Jackson money not giving Wayne garlin money not giving Bobby Grich money not giving Doug? I’m just going through their whole 1977 That was all gone by 1980. Yeah, you know, like so. And we’re playing against them in the 79. A playoff. So I would just say, for this team. I thought about this the other night, and I thought wow, this is amazing. And I’m thinking and they’re all cheap. And I’m like, no, no, no, this was really expensive. You had to sit out there for seven years and watch them lose 110 ballgames. And nobody came and the place was empty. So that’s a hell of a cost. You want to team this good. We’re gonna stink first for a decade we’re gonna stink be awful awful for a decade. So we can get all the Jackson holidays and all the and then we’ll then we’ll be good for a while. And then our owner will pitch and try to move the team to Nashville or just cry poor that he can’t afford to pay them again, after not paying Manny Machado. And look, the thing that scares the bejesus out of me is people aren’t going and I’m guilty. I don’t want to go give him money. I don’t want to give him 10 bucks. My wife and I were down there on Friday night, we were at the nest. We didn’t go to the game, we hung out. We had a beer. We had a pregame period we left I just I have a real aversion to handing my credit card over to this pig. Now, next month when they’re playing playoff games here. Maybe I’ll get 225 bucks out of me to go sit in the upper deck for a game that I want to see game five against Houston. I don’t know maybe I had a press credential that I should have, by the way, because you have one, why don’t I have one I run the place. So I would just say for them, seeing that nobody’s going to the games unless they give out a bobblehead. I mean, it’s wonderful to see Saturday night back, but then you realize, oh, they gave me 15,000 bobbleheads or 30,000. People pissed that they didn’t get one because I’ve seen that all over the internet because they, they, you know, they don’t prepare for that people line up on Friday night. It’s a big circus. It’s a circus to go get a bobblehead. And I know their fanbase loves it, and they put up with it. They do the $15 beers, and they do I just but then on Tuesday night, the White Sox come to town and all of a sudden it feels sort of lonely to some degree and I don’t that will be used against us when all this comes down. And it will be used against what we already used it with the New York Times two weeks ago. You have enough money to you know, when he’s getting gobs of money from the national TV deal. It’s really an unbelievable situation that he could be it’s like major league. He’s such a pig. The family’s been pigs for 30 years. Now the cats out of the bag that he’s a loser too. And the team’s really good and it’s really cheap, but I’m thinking at what cost this franchise was burned to the ground for a decade in order to make it these Then again, five years,
Luke Jones 45:00
let’s, you know, it was five years 2018 through through 2000. It was it was a five year 2017 through 21 thing. You can’t say it’s a decade because they made the playoffs.
Nestor Aparicio 45:14
Players in 1415, it’s not all Machado. But they had payroll again, the payroll came back when they got good. Sure. At that time, John had nothing to do with the team that he wasn’t me, Peter, Peter, who gave the money to Chris Davis. John was around. Chris Davis might still be on welfare. I don’t know. But Chris, Johnny gotta get money out. I mean, obviously, that’s, you know, if it was about sine and rutschman. And Henderson, other teams might have gotten that done a 30 games over 500 Right here. Now, you know, this would be a real good time to do something for the fans, including the lease itself, that he’s not taking $600 million of free money that he can earmark and move numbers around and say, well, there’s a buck and a quarter for rutschman, there’s a buck and a quarter for Anderson, let’s put them on the wall. And let’s see how the next five years go. And if it doesn’t go, Hey, be mad at me be mad at my old man, whatever. But we tried, you know, like I, the decision making all begins now with money. And that’s what I talked about with you last month with Elias never having to go down the hallway and ask John for money. And what happens the first time he does that? You know, Elias read The New York Times last week, too. Yeah,
Luke Jones 46:22
no question about it. I don’t disagree with anything you just said. I just wanted to clarify that, you know, the rebuild wasn’t a decade because they they weren’t good during the Baroque era, and, and
Nestor Aparicio 46:32
still pissed about 98 through 2012. I’ve no doubt. So anybody age and your age lived through that to that. They got lucky to be good from 12 to 16. Like, I don’t disagree, you can’t pull into cattle out of the Cape Cod penal League and and buck coming in here and not having anything to do with analytics and going old school and fudging it together with Machado showing up and couple pitchers working out because you kept was a little bit of a weird genius about baseball as well. I just I see 35 games under 500. Nobody at the ballpark. A lot of nights and I still like and I wonder and I say to my wife, I sit her bitch to my wife all night about it. I’m like, only a three and a half million people. But that was before the Nationals game and they split the fan base and he pissed everybody off. And there’s people like me. My last name is Aparicio. I ordered a $75 Chicago White Sox jersey from 1969 yesterday that I’m going to wear that I loved on the 1970 baseball card I’ve been eyeing it has always $400 I found some championship like the purple flag goes did or the blue flag goes I should say. But I ordered it. Like I love baseball and but I spent money on the internet buying a jersey before I’ll give John Angelo’s money, because that’s how I feel about it. I don’t know why other people aren’t going I was in Pasadena doing the show Tuesday and it’s lost upon me how many Trump voters there are or Trump Ian’s there are who just hate the city. I mean, they hate everything about the city. They watch Fox News nonstop. And they’re just not coming. And they might not even come down for a World Series game because by then I people talk to me about playoff games. I’m like, you want to get credit card out of me $10 nights for playoff games because it’s going to be expensive to go to the games people are the people that are going down there like Ed Lauer and sitting in the $80 seats and showing up on TV every night and getting in on their orange $60 A month club plan. It’s gonna be a different crowd in the postseason, or they’re going to have to mortgage their their Christmas. I guess I just would love to see the enthusiasm be as large as I know it can be for the team. And I think that might be impossible with the owner. Well,
Luke Jones 48:36
I look first of all, I think I think the enthusiasm is very large. But I don’t think that always equates to people being in the ballpark. Because we’ve talked about the home viewing experience and everyone’s paying for mass and
Nestor Aparicio 48:48
racing car flags, though. I mean, you don’t I mean, I’m not seeing flamingos yet. I want to
Luke Jones 48:53
see in a lot of see, first of all, that’s anecdotal anyway, so what you’ve see compared to what I see or you know, that it’s hard to quantify now. It’s hard to quantify that. I mean, I’ve said to you for months now. Just my text chain with all my high school friends that I played football with. I would say one guy in that group and it’s a group about 10 of us. One other guy in that group is a hardcore baseball.
Nestor Aparicio 49:23
Okay, how many of you have been to a game recently?
Luke Jones 49:26
I don’t know. But what I will say is they are all watching much more closely than they have in a long time so I’m
Nestor Aparicio 49:33
not going I’m I you know, I counted in the stands there. I’m watching tonight. So I am that Yeah, so I
Luke Jones 49:39
think part of what we have to understand here and we’ve talked we talked about this in the middle of the rebuild you know, we talked about this when we could see the farm system rankings creeping back up and seeing that okay, they are stocking some talent and they do have some guys on the way and it’s not just the Orioles talking to some other people around baseball are taking notice. We said it though. This wasn’t gonna be like a light switch into terms of everyone’s back and suddenly it’s 1997 again and the ballparks packed every night. First and foremost, I don’t think that’s ever happening, you know, and part of that has to do with just the reality of how we consume sports today. And obviously, the Nationals. I mean, I think that ship has sailed and it’s not coming back. But
Nestor Aparicio 50:19
the one I was flipping Lita, my wife, because you just said the N word, right? When the nationals were winning, they sold a lot of tickets every time when the nationals were good during that Strasburg. You know, sure they’re good period. I’m not talking about in September, when we’re going to win a World when they lost awful playoff games to the Cardinals. I sat on a road trip Boston, watch them just piss away a game five when they should have the dance, right? Like I watched them have hard luck losses, and then come back the next year. And every time I saw them, I thought, oh, man, the Orioles are in trouble because they they’re selling tickets and the orders were selling tickets then 1230. There were 5 million people going to baseball games in the corridor during that period of time. And I’m thinking to myself, the Nationals didn’t have any problem selling tickets when it got good. The Phillies have any problems selling tickets when it got good. We’re in a different markets, a smaller market. It’s a beaten up market. I don’t give them money, because the owner is a dick. And he’s been one to everybody. I know, on behalf of everybody. I don’t give him money. So I have a straw. And then there’s the city and the Trump stuff. And like all that, that goes on about going to the ballpark that maybe they don’t have in South Philly. I don’t know the Nationals stadium was built in the worst neighborhood of all time that they’ve turned into one of the most expensive zip codes in the world, literally, by putting a baseball stadium there, strangely enough, but people came. And that that is a concern of mine, you can excuse away the city and this and that price is $10 Go to the ballpark. It was 60 hours ago all month, you know, so I don’t know that it’s price. And I got into that here long before you came into my life. 20 years ago when people stopped going, and I’m on the radio every day. So before they squirted me, it’s when I’m trying to help them sell tickets. You know, when I’m doing 3000 tickets in the upper deck on a Friday night because the Phillies are in town. And while Bill’s out doing things drunk and the birds there and like, like, even then, the hardest part for me to accept on the radio was when Ali’s bargain bin night was three bucks or five bucks and people weren’t going. That was a real tell for me to say tickets are almost free and people aren’t going this team’s 35 games over fun. They’ll never be better than this. They although this never show me a September for even if they’re good the next couple of years. And they sign these guys. The notion that on September 1, they will be 35 games over 500 Again, I don’t know dude, take a lifetime to get here. And I know who runs the place. This is as much enthusiasm as they could possibly have right now, this is as good a pennant race. There’s a team chasing them. They’re gonna play for games two weeks from now that I really hope it feels like the Yankees are in town and it’s packed and you don’t need to get a bobble head to show up. But I don’t speak for the team and selling tickets. I just would see what I’ve witnessed and know what I hear and know what I feel. I think baseball fans are back. I don’t know that they’ve recruited new people. But then I see young people down there. And I’m like, All right, those kids didn’t grow up in St. Marie. They’re there. I see young people having fun down there.
Luke Jones 53:14
Yeah, attendance is up, though. Let’s be fair about this. I’m looking at it right now. Last year, they averaged 17,005 per game. And again, we know announced numbers, fudging it up understanding all of that it’s up to 23. This year, percentage wise, that’s pretty sizable. I think the point I was trying to make and look everything you just laid out. That’s part of it. And I don’t disagree with that. From a big picture standpoint, I guess the point I’m making is, I never would have thought or expected that it was going to be like a light switch. And everyone’s just back. I think it’s a dial I think, because of ownership because of long term concerns, because you don’t have a lease long term beyond this year. I think there are fans that are excited about the product on the field, but from a financial standpoint, are hesitant to invest in season tickets, for example, because they want to make sure this is real. They want to make sure this sustains they want to make sure that this and you’re right, they’re probably not going to be in a position even if even if this rebuild sustains into something that’s really good for a decade, they might not be this good record wise, again, or maybe only one other time or two other times. But if it sustains I think you will see attendance continue to improve. Is it ever going to get to a point where it was in 1997? No, because of a lot of the reasons that we laid out, but it is up on average 150 500 per game. That’s that’s meaningful considering how low it was. Now, how much higher it can climb the rest of the year. How much higher that means for next year. What do they do in terms of selling playoff tickets and tying that into season tickets? You know, downpayment proceeds and tickets next year, you know, what did they do in that regard? You know, how resourceful how savvy, how smart, are they and how they market that to try to roll it into more ticket sales for next year? We’ll see. No, I think the the jury’s out on what they do on that on that front. But the support is up. But you do have long term questions about the viability of the franchise, beginning with ownership. And I think, to your point, it’s where there are some people that are hesitating, they’re doing well on the weekends at this point in time. You look at attendance over the weekend, Friday night, they gave out an Orioles flag, you know what a decent giveaway, but it wasn’t something that’s you know, it’s not like the Hawaiian shirt or a bobblehead. You know, they drew 28,000, against the Rockies, the Rockies think you know, there’s no one on the Rockies that anyone in Baltimore say, Man, I, I can’t I have to go see that guy play. So they drew 28. It’s a good crowd. Not great, but good. Certainly better than it was on Friday nights the last couple of years. Saturday, they sold out because they had the Felix Batista bobblehead, no big shock there. And on Sunday, they didn’t give away anything. 30,700 I mean, not great, but not awful, and certainly better than it was last year and much better than it was a few years ago. My point is, it is getting better. And I think there is a gradual increase that can continue over the next couple of years. But there are a lot of people who want to see a long term lease, they want to see investments being made in the team and that doesn’t have to be going out and signing big time free agents to your point. Extend Gunnar Henderson, you know, I’d like to see that way more than going out and buying a free agent. You know, I’d love to see them sign Gunnar Henderson do a 10 year deal right now 11 year deal, buy out his
Nestor Aparicio 56:45
first load that cost them what would the number what was the number on that big
Luke Jones 56:48
man, you’re putting me on the spot. I mean, it would not be cheap, let’s be clear, we’re not talking 11 years, you’re gonna get them for $80 million. You know, you’d be talking about a nine figure contract. But when you look at what kind of player he is, when you look at the fact that he’s only 22 years old, and you would be buying, buying out his first three or four years of free agency, if you could do something like that, and, you know, take him to age 30, you know, at age 3132, whatever it might be. And, look, he might not sign an 11 year deal. It might be that you get them to sign a nine year deal, you know, whatever. But it’s pretty cheap. But relative to what a player like that would be on the open market, it would be a fraction of what it would cost. And he
Nestor Aparicio 57:30
ran with him for two or three years screw around. It’s been training a year and a half from now, if he goes out next year, and is an MVP, and he won’t sign with you. Well, and that’s part of this deal. Just ain’t he’ll hang out. I mean, we went through this with Lamar on the football side and unprecedented. Never gets that way. Right.
Luke Jones 57:48
Yeah, Manny Machado. I mean, there’s another example. I mean, what I would like to see and look, it may come down to it. And some of these guys is you know, when you’re a Boras client, and all that, they won’t sign but make the effort. And we’ve talked about this, we talked about this a lot at the trade deadline. This is all homegrown. It’s all affordable. It’s great. You know, they’ve done Mike Elias and the baseball OpSite has done a phenomenal job rebuilding this thing they really have. But at some point in time, we’ve I’ve talked about that inflection point coming, where you’re going to have to make ownership ownership, not Mike Elias ownership is going to have to make a meaningful investment here to get this to either get this team over the over the hump, and bringing in a big time starter or whatever you want to bring in. Or it has to come in the form of extending Gunnar Henderson or extending Adley rutschman or Grayson Rodriguez or whoever you want to, you know, take your pick of which guy you want to talk about. Because there are plenty of guys that we could at least have a conversation about in that regard. And that’s a good thing. But they are going to come to that point where ownership is going to have to take that step. And boy, based on what we’ve seen at this point, what’s my confidence level on that happening zero. And I say that as someone who has been very complimentary of their baseball operations side and very complimentary, of Mike Elias and stigma Dell and their scouts, and their technology and analytics department and all the different things they’re doing that has formed what we’re seeing today, which is the best team in the American League and a team that’s going to make the playoffs and a team that has a darn good chance to win 100 games for the first time since 1980. Which think about that. I mean it’s it’s quite a story but ownership in terms of doing everything you can to sustain this thing for the long haul like they want to know Mike Elias there are things he’ll be able to do you know, he can turn the roster and turn the roster over and trade guys when they’re three or four years in and when they get an arbitration and they start to become expensive and you flip them for reom young players mean the rays have done that for a long time and they’ve been good to really good for a long time. But guess what, they haven’t gotten over the hump and part of that is because there are as they play small market baseball and, you know, but even the rays have extended some players, so there’s no excuse for John Angelos and in this franchise to say that, well, we’re not gonna be able to keep Gunnar Henderson and Adley rutschman. And
Nestor Aparicio 1:00:16
well, the old man would say, well, we’re trying to extend them, but we couldn’t afford we couldn’t get him to sign it’s fine. You know, like, I mean, that’s the way the old man would do it. And let’s
Luke Jones 1:00:25
be clear, I’m not even suggesting that they have to keep every single one of them. The Ravens don’t keep every single one of their young players, you know, we understand how this is going to work and no one saying that they need to have a $300 million payroll or will have a $300 million payroll, we know that’s not happening. But the point is, there is no excuse that you can’t keep some of them and then make wise decisions with other guys of when to trade. You know when to turn over your roster. When you go with a young guy, you know, we’re going to see that probably either this offseason or sometime soon. Anthony Santander has been a really good player for them, but he’s getting to a point where he’s getting closer to 30 He’s more expensive at the end, you know, he’s on that
Nestor Aparicio 1:01:07
tree. Manzini line, and that Adam Jones line of like, all right, yes. enough out of you. Right.
Luke Jones 1:01:13
But on the flip side, they have all this talent in the outfield in the minor leagues. I mean, Heston Karstadt and Colton cows are sitting at triple A right now and I know cows are struggled, you know, when he was up, but now, lots of guys Adley rutschman. Struggled, Gunnar Henderson struggled when he was very good struggle. Yeah. So the point is they have replacements highly regarded prospects waiting at triple A to do that. So I’ll tell you right now, I’m guessing there’s a good chance that Santander has traded this offseason. That doesn’t mean I think the Orioles are going to be worse next year. It just means the roster will evolve and change and look different. And that’s okay. But if that’s if you’re gonna have to depend on that exclusively, to try to be good for the long haul. If that’s what Michael is, is gonna have to do and you’re not going to extend it you think you’re gonna beat the Yankees while they’re taught or Henderson from you? That’s different. Yeah.
Nestor Aparicio 1:02:04
I got a break. But I want to show you this. Just to show you what I’ve been doing with my money instead of giving you this, I found this on the internet. Right. And this is the 1969 and it has the little patch on the side. And it’s a Louis Aparicio like special. And you know, once I found that it had my name on the back as a real jerseys didn’t have the names, but they kind of made it tastefully done here, and it has the hunter FANUC How can I how can I turn this down? I mean, it’s a baseball for me. How do I know? For $58 For the rest of my life, so cool. I’m working on this Oriole jersey, that’s an orange 70s It’s the orange 70s at the 79 Orioles war. And it’s put it’s an Aparicio. 11 on it. So it’s kind of you know, not in the 66 I wish I could get to 66 I got a 66 Palmer giveaway and I’m real happy with that. But the black black lettering on the back so you know, I mean, you like to think of yourself as the jersey nerd. I was the original Jersey nerd. I had the Passerini yips in 1973 By the way Passerini is coming on next week to talk nice, though. Look, Jones can be found at Baltimore Lukey can be found at the ballpark he can be found at Camden Yards. He can be found in Owings Mills. You got to be found anywhere this weekend because you are out of town. He’s gonna be Deacon Jones on Pennsylvania, doing the good work up there and he will be ready for all things. Training Camp. Conclusion and real season beginning beginning on Wednesday next week as the Houston Texans come to town, little baseball, little football. We’re doing the Marilyn crabcakes on the 15th if they please make sure you’re listening out for our thing at Pappas and by the way new sponsor Coco’s pub. I’m wearing a CoCo shirt. I will show you the colorful bird on the back, but I’ll wear it backwards next time. I haven’t have it on, get on over to to to Coco’s and Laura Ville and tell Marcella, we love her. We’re gonna be doing the show there in a couple of weeks as well. late September during the crabcake tour there. I’m Nestor he’s Luke. We are wn St. am 1570, Towson Baltimore going over time here. Stay with us at Baltimore positive
