When the bats go silent not even miraculous efforts by Albert Suarez can save the Orioles. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the bullpen issues and depth of the starting pitching of the Birds as they return home and attempt to stay atop the American League East standings.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
bullpen, craig kimbrel, suarez, pitch, pitching, runs, orioles, baseball, ball, year, yankees, hit, team, playing, talking, sunday, rodriguez, point, sit, week
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
8
Welcome home. We are W, n, s, t te, Baltimore and Baltimore positive we we inch closer to the beginning of the regular season. We certainly have inched closer to a home stand. We got that going on right now. I am wearing my curio Oriole orange with the birds who make sure you’re supporting them, and our 26th anniversary oyster tour, that begins in about three weeks. I’m not eating any oyster. I’m going Ocean City this week, doing Mako. I’m not eating any oysters. I’m not eating any oysters next Friday, when I get together with Luke, when the cheatstros come to town, we will be promoting the Maryland lottery, the Gold Rush, sevens, doublers, giving these out. But might be the last time you see these, because the Raven scratch offs launch this week. So John Martin will be telling me about it down at Mako limited pure solutions, making my water crystal clear. Royal farms, powering up our coffee around here, as well as Jiffy Lube, multi care, sending Luke back and forth. I think I have a new title for you. I’ve been thinking of rebranding things here we’re gonna change the cupcake. You know, with AI, I can make like a crab holding an oyster with a 26 candle. Like there’s crazy stuff I can do with AI. So we’re gonna do like a 26th anniversary thing. But I think I’m gonna nickname you my favorite Baltimore sports reporter. Is that okay if I say that? So Luke Jones, my favorite Baltimore sports reporter, real Baltimore sports reporter, how are you? Man, you’re ready for baseball, football. The overlap I do mention out loud, because I need to. You’re the only accredited media member, so covering both teams, it’s, you know, like you have some long days ahead here this week into next week, I’m going to be down in Ocean City, speaking to Senator Ben Cardin, speaking to Senator Van Hollen, speaking to anybody that wants to sit on the set with me in Ocean City this week. And you know, this is as busy as crazy Ravens have injuries concerns and the Orioles man, I felt like a chump Sunday morning, bro, when I woke up. And I’m like, our headline on the website is, like, we’re worried about their pitching? Well, we’re worried about I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to make us not worried about their pitching, other than pitching better. And I don’t mean Suarez, I mean or effalin, I mean some of the rest of them. Well,
Luke Jones 02:11
I’m going to tell you what I told you last week and what I wrote at Baltimore positive.com last week. Their offense needs to do the heavy lifting. That was shaping up to be a three game sweep down at the trop, and they scored one run on Sunday. So we can complain about Brandon Hyde taking out Albert Suarez, maybe a batter early. We can complain about bullpen moves here or there, but at some point in time, we know what this is. They’re pitching as issues. Of course, it’s going to with all the injuries that they’ve had. And look, I want it to get better. Certain guys can get better. No question about that. Craig Kimbrel and you know is Sir Anthony Dominguez going to become the closer. Is is going to become the closer? What’s going to happen with Kimbrel after another bad outing on Sunday? I get all of that, but they scored one stinking run on Sunday. You’re not going to win games when you score one run. This team is not constructed to win like that at this point, no team is,
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:03
I mean, I mean, if you have the 97 Braves were constructed to win one, nothing,
Luke Jones 03:08
right? But the point is, I mean, we’ve talked about this. I mean, they’re not constructed to win two to one or three to two most nights. I mean, if Burns is pitching, sure, hey, Zach efland, another great outing for him on Friday night, he’s been everything they could have asked for. So you have two starting pitchers that you feel good to grade about, and tip of the cap to Albert Suarez, for as much as guys like us have continued to talk about upgrading and moving him to the bullpen, while he’s been much better than Dean Kramer, he’s been better than Trevor Rogers since Trevor Rogers arrived. Better
8Nestor J. Aparicio 03:41
than covid Yeah, better than, better than Kate povidish, better. Sure. Sure, all of them, right.
Luke Jones 03:47
I mean, right now with Grayson Rodriguez on the IL, I mean, Albert Soros is their number three starter.
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:53
Start Game three and we’re down. Oh, two coming home. He had to start game three at Camden Yards. I’d be okay with that. I think he’s got some Bulldog in him. I think he’s got some, some five innings, you know, magic in him in October. I do. I, you know, I, I will go in on him, such as, because he’s Venezuelan, because I’m just as you know, quick to point out that, you know, the I used to call him the kid, because he looks like he’s two feet tall, but the cheaters from the Astros, who’s also Venezuelan. So I’m not just all in on the Venezuelan thing, but I am all in on what, the middle of August in a big game, on a Sunday, when they’re giving them the ball again, when everybody in the world thinks he’s headed to the bullpen and whatever, he comes back out and says, maybe not. And that’s kind of fun. That’s That all being said. They lost the game, which sucks.
Luke Jones 04:45
8I mean, Nestor, I can’t sit here and say that. I feel confident if Albert Suarez is their game three starter, but I mean, this is just where they are right now, and obviously Grayson Rodriguez, the hope is he’s going to be back before the end of the season. Season, and Mike Elias confirmed that over the weekend. Doesn’t sound like it’ll be Labor Day, but hopefully by, let’s say, mid September, because you also don’t want to just be bringing him back and oh, you’re starting a playoff game after you haven’t pitched in a game that matters in six weeks. So it’s not ideal, but of their options available to them right now, which is all they have, right? I mean, you can’t trade for more pitching, or go out and sign a pitcher of consequence, or anything like that. Albert Suarez is the best that they have behind Corbin burns and Zach Eflin. So hats off to him. I do continue to wonder, and I think you and I think you and I talked about this three, four weeks ago, at some point in time, when you consider the pitching that he did over the winter and where he is now and where his career has gone, you do have to at least ask the question, is he going to run out of gas at some point? But he certainly didn’t look that way on Sunday. So it was great to see him do what he did. Unfortunately, Anthony Santander is home run aside, they didn’t do anything for him offensively. And again, this team, as they’re currently constructed, they need their offense to show up every night, and if they don’t, they’re probably going to lose because, again, they’re just not a team that you’re going to look at that bullpen and say, Oh yeah, one, nothing or or two to one, that’s not going to turn out that way, in a way that you’re feeling overly confident they’re going to get the job done. And we’ve seen that bear out time and time again. So I’ll continue to say it, if they don’t swing the bats, if they don’t hit the ball, if they don’t score runs, it’s going to be extremely different difficult for them to win most nights.
Nestor J. Aparicio 06:39
We’ll get to the bullpen in a minute. How about that? How about since you went down this river, I’ll do the high decisions on 95 pitches. I’ll do Perez and where he is, and I don’t think we call him sir. Anthony more, just sir, just sir. It’s kind of like the peanuts, like a peppermint patty, sir, the hitting and taking pitches, swinging the bad pitches. Coby Mayo kind of in over his head so far. But they’re timid, maybe even to put him out there a little bit little time off here, you know, get the little downtime. I mean, I said to my wife last week when they had a day off, I’m like, they don’t get days off. They don’t they don’t give them days off. They just play 162 in a row. You know, when it rains, they make it up tomorrow, but they, you know, a little time off, but home, home cooking this week. The amazing part of all of it was they still woke up Sunday morning in first place despite Phillies guardians, Yankees pick any of these teams, cheatstros are coming in here next week. Um, they’ve still been better than any of the rest of them over the whole of it. But the thing I keep pointing out, and the thing that I’ll keep pointing out, they’re a different team than they were at the All Star break. And to your point, if they’re going to win the World Series, it’s going to be because of rushman, Henderson, Santander, all the guys are playing the All Star Game burns. You know, it’ll be those guys that will be the difference makers, but these other spare parts and for Elias to be picking up heat about um Soto’s failures, or the fact that Rogers isn’t what anybody else may have thought he was going to be, but under team control, as they keep saying, we can fix him. We can make him better. He’s the Steve Austin of their of their projects, but hitting the ball and the Menace is okay. They picked him up. But these are different at bats in different circumstances, in different ways. And Austin Hayes is gone, and you know, Connor norby’s not coming back, and Jordan Westbrook is unavailable, and we can go down the list and say, what’s out there right now is this 105 win team, maybe not, certainly not with the rotation without Rodriguez, right? Like I don’t know what they are the next six weeks, but they are a diminished version of what we perceive them to be, what we wanted them to be, and how we all thought that the pitching needed to be the strength, because that’s what Earl Weaver told us, right? I mean, the pitching has to be the strength in October for this to work. You know, I’ll buy that until I don’t see it. But there’s a point with these bats where approaches moving runners solo home runs for home run riches, too many of those and and not getting runners on and not hitting when you got runners and scorpses. So there’s just some there’s some things we’re seeing that you’ll say, well, over the season, they’re blank, no, no, no. What have they been the last month? Because they’re a different team. Now they’re different lineup. Now it’s like when I see people comparing the Orioles all time series with the black I don’t care about what happened 2009 I don’t even care about what happened in April. It’s this is different now, and I’m measuring them for what they are, not for what they used to be, or what the potential was with Bradish, or whatever. I’m trying to figure out who these guys are and what they can do in the offense to to. Tweak some things to get to not be looking to hit home runs, hitting five home runs and scoring eight runs and win an eight to four. I
Luke Jones 10:08
mean, I hear what you’re saying. Tell me what great offenses in baseball don’t hit home runs, though. You know what I mean, like, it’s such a baked in huge part of the game. And I’ll continue to point to look at how many home runs the Rangers hit in October last year. I mean, I, I don’t. I reject the notion that home runs aren’t a big part of how you win in October. I think it absolutely is. I think it’s more so than ever. That said your points well taken. Look this offense is still one of the very best in baseball. And if people want to sit here and just yell at the moon that it’s not then I just don’t know what to tell you, because when you just look at the numbers, they all just has to be four out
Nestor J. Aparicio 10:50
of seven days. Sure,
8Luke Jones 10:54
and look some of that is baseball. And what you said, Tell me what it is. Over the last month in July, it did struggle. They did struggle to score more runs. But, I mean, even look at Sunday. I mean, they scored four on Friday night. They ended up scoring seven on Saturday. Now that was a game where, thank goodness for remote areas, because of how that played out, as everyone’s wanted to ship him off to wherever in with new guys coming in, but he did the job for them there, and then, obviously they didn’t score on Sunday. So look, I mean, Colin cows Sunday, over five aside, has excellent lead off role. I think that’s given them a nice jolt. It’s allowed them to lower gunner Henderson in the order, and now it’s just a matter of waiting for gunner to start hitting home runs again. He’s hit. He had three hits on Sunday, but we haven’t seen him hit the long ball the way he did the first three months. And look back in June, if you would ask me, is he going to hit 55 home runs, as he was on pace to do at one point in time? I would have probably told you, probably not. You know, when you’re talking about a shortstop that’s playing every day, even at age. Someone who’s in their early 20s, it’s still a long grind of 162 that you’re going to wear down a little bit, at least for some some periods of time. So, you know, Santander has done what he’s done. You know, they’re not getting much power from the outcastle. You know, he he hit clean up on Sunday and go look at his home run numbers over the last two months. I mean, it’s just not something not something that he’s done a whole lot of. Jimenez, to your point, has been a nice addition. Austin Slater, two hits aside, you know, he’s not someone who’s playing every day, nor do I want him to play every day. But, you know, I Coby mayo, it’s feeling might be getting close to a reset for him, going down the triple A, as we’ve seen them do with other guys. It’s not writing him off, but doesn’t look like right now. He’s ready to contribute, especially he never would
Nestor J. Aparicio 12:51
have been here had it not been for westburg, right? Sure, sure. I
Luke Jones 12:55
mean, that’s the thing. I mean, because you mentioned some, you know, you mentioned Austin Hayes. Austin Hayes wasn’t playing a whole lot anyway. Connor Norby had just become a regular for the week leading into the trade deadline. I mean, they’re missing an all star infielder in Jordan westburg who was really solid defensively and was there probably their second or third most consistent offensive player this year. So they’re missing that. I mean, you don’t easily replace that. They’ve come close to doing it with how good Jackson holiday has been. But that’s not an easy thing to do, and that’s putting a lot of pressure on some of your other guys to try to step up. So I mean, I I still can’t sit here and say that I’m overly concerned about the offense, because I don’t know, like, what? What does that do? Like, who do you want to see instead of who they’re trotting out there on a nightly basis? Right? They just brought up mayo and he’s what, oh, for 15 with 10 strikeouts, or whatever it is. Holiday has been one of their two or three best players since being recalled. So that’s been good. I mean, it just comes down to, what’s the strength of this ball club. Where are they? Much healthier than the their pitching. It’s their offense. So when they don’t hit, it’s very simplistic. I mean, you can’t, you’re not going to win games, one nothing, most of the time, even to your point, if they’re the 1997 Atlanta Braves or whatever. So it you know, I there are times where they’re not going to swing the bats quite as well, just like any team, it’s baseball, but by and large, they’re going to have to hit. And I’ve written this, I’ve said this, I say I feel even more strongly about it, even after some of the updates over the weekend that were encouraging, but not the most encouraging outcome for Grayson, Rodriguez and Danny coulomb, and go down the list, Jacob Webb sounds like, you know, there’s no major concern with his elbow, but they need to get those guys back. But in the meantime, and even after they get those guys back, and hopefully they’re pitching the way that we know they’re capable of pitching, they’re still gonna have to score runs, because Kyle Bradish isn’t walking through. That door, right? John means, is not walking through that door. Tyler, well, same thing, they’re gonna
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:04
8score some games too. You know what? I mean. So when they score one, they’re gonna lose. I mean, sure, 98% of the teams in history baseball are gonna lose if they score one run. So to your you know, I don’t know what to say about the hitting, other than it’s an IS, not a might be. The bullpen isn’t an IS, and I’m not even sure it’s a might be, you know, like that’s why we’re talking so much about the bullpen and Brandon heights management of it, in that circumstance, in that game, you have to win. I don’t agree with pulling Suarez there all that being said, it’s because it didn’t work, right, right?
Luke Jones 15:47
Well, and you’re talking about someone that, I mean, how many times has he thrown? It’s not like this guy’s thrown 110 pitches per start, right? I mean, it typically the best he’s been has been where they pull him somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 to 95 and that’s when he’s been at his best. So I’ll hear it if people want to say, Yeah, I would have let Suarez finish the seventh inning. Full disclosure, I didn’t. I was at Raven’s practice, so I’m just catching up and going off of the box score and some highlights and all that. So I’ll hear that, but you still come back to Suarez isn’t going the distance, right? He’s not throwing a complete game there, so you’re still coming back to you’re going to have to pitch two more innings of effective bullpen work to get the win there. And Dominguez wasn’t available, and Cano wasn’t available, and Craig Kimbrough is still this version of Craig Kimbrell that you have no trust in. So, oh, that
Nestor J. Aparicio 16:36
came next. But yeah, here’s where I think fans, and certainly people that I’d like to think all of you who listen and watch this programming, 33 years into this, I got to change my my cupcake are the intelligent ones to realize, sort of like, okay, the way They measure this, as baseball scientists is saying is CNL Perez’s next five pitches, first five pitches better than what whoever the starter is, and in this case, it’s Suarez. Do we want pitch 96 through 100 of his or do we want pitch one through 10 of reliever x, it could be anybody, and that’s the decision they’re making in that moment, as well as match up and lefty, righty and all the baseball stuff like that. I don’t want to. We can go down the you know, we’re not writing Keith Hernandez’s book here. We all sort of understand baseball a little bit, at least, I think we do, until I go out onto the toilets of the social media in the aftermath of all a fire. Brandon Hyde, I mean, it’s hilarious, but all that being said, that’s how they do it. And I don’t know that you argue afterward, when the manager sits in the dugout after they lose tough games. And look, you were around five years ago when every night was a tough night. You were there when he had to sit and talk through losses with Rio Ruiz. And we go through the names of all of that. And I’m paying more attention now, you know, like the mass and broadcast and what they’re giving me, and you know what I can see as a fan, not the personality part of the Olympics. I’m talking about, like, what I see, the baseball part of it. The baseball part for me is he’ll say, it just didn’t work out. You know, that’s what it that’s what a manager I say it just didn’t work out. Like we played the match up, we brought in a guy whose first pitch has to be better than that guy’s 96th pitch, no matter how you feel about it, no matter how you and and the other part of we’re not going to overwork that guy and overtax that guy, because we need him. Um, and this other guy’s here, he’s getting paid too, whomever it is in this case we’re seeing, and certainly in the case of Kimberly, how much money he’s making and what you know, how the level of expectations on the seesaw. I mean, look, dude, I’ve been doing sports radio a long time. I remember when Glenn Davis had to hit the ball better than everybody else because he got paid more. That’s just the way people think, right? You get paid more, you have to be better. And I don’t know that baseball really works that way. If you’ve been watching the Yankees the last 50 years or the Dodgers the last 20 years. But in this case, this is where the analytics come in. And when the manager has to sit in the dugout the next day and say, it just didn’t work out. It means, dude, we put a lot of effort into this. It didn’t work out. It’s baseball,
Luke Jones 19:40
yeah, and look, I mean, I understand that they pinch it when Perez comes in, but you kind of look at his numbers for this season, and his splits are fairly even now, I know in past years, you could certainly look at that differently, and I’ll hear it again if you. To say that you would leave Albert Suarez in for that final out and what he had gotten two outs on four or five pitches. It’s not like he was laboring or it had a long inning. I’ll hear that, and I agree. I agree with that at the same time seeing al Perez needs to come in and do his job right. Ultimately, manager, head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator. Go down the list any sport you want to talk about, whether you’re talking about the head coach, the manager, or a specialty, you know, a specialization kind of coach. Ultimately, you put guys in the position to go do their job, and they got to go do their job. And the problem with this bullpen at this point is you just do not trust nearly enough of these guys to do their job. So that being said, that is, to me, that’s an argument to leave Albert Suarez in there. But I’ll continue to go back to even if you leave him in there and he gets that out, I don’t think you’re bringing him back out for the eighth then, right? I mean, you’re talking about, he’s probably at 100 pitches, or somewhere very, very close to that. You know, he already was close to 100 pitches. So you’re not
8Nestor J. Aparicio 21:06
trying to prove a point. You’re trying to get the next batter out. Well, sure,
Luke Jones 21:09
but my point is, you were still gonna have to get six outs there. Now, you know, because they were gonna have to pitch the ninth inning if they had the lead right? So, so you’re still, how are you getting through that without using Perez, Craig Kimbrel, you know, I saw some people saying, Oh, they would, should have taken Kimber out. It’s like, okay to go to who, you know, Keegan Aiken, right? I mean, we’ve been down that road. I mean, do you trust him more than Kimbrel? Maybe you do right now. So
Nestor J. Aparicio 21:36
point is, this is where you’re reaching for Jacob Webb and you’re reaching for, you know, Cologne coulomb and, yeah, you’re reaching for guys that aren’t there anymore. And, and it’s
Luke Jones 21:46
8just not ideal. It’s just not, I mean, you don’t trust these. We talked about this. We’ve talked about this over and over and over. It’s kind of, I don’t want to say miraculous, that would be hyperbole, but it is pretty incredible that they’re in the position that they’re in, and their bullpen held up actually, as well as it did for as long as it did, considering just don’t have a lot of trust in this group as it’s presently constructed. You know when you obviously subtract Felix Batista at the end of last year, and yes, you signed Craig Kimbrel, but I’ve been consistent on Craig Kimbrell. I told you this back in when they signed him, I said, you know, I don’t hate the signing, but this isn’t Craig Kimball of 10 years ago. This
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:27
is going to be on the team in October. In your mind. Yeah, okay. Because
Luke Jones 22:31
who are you? I mean, you still have to, and I’ve seen people say, Oh, I’d release my DFA. You don’t have another for what? For what? Exactly I mean, like, get an era under four for the year, right? Look, I don’t trust them right now at all, either. But right now is in October, right. Right now is in August 30, which isn’t September 15, which isn’t september 30, which is an October 15? Yeah, you
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:57
hate camera. Try bringing Kate povidge out of the bullpen in September. I mean, you’re not doing that
8Luke Jones 23:03
right well, and it’s not even, it’s whoever, like, who are the alternatives, you know, Brandon Hyde or not? Brandon Hyde, Mike Elias, over the weekend, was asked about Batista, because there have been some video about Batista starting to continuing to ramp up and he’s throwing. But he once again, dismissed that, hey, he’s not pitching, you know, he’s not pitching until 2025 so because that, not that anyone was seriously thinking that. But I think there was some curiosity there, when you look at the timeline of when he had Tommy John, and wondering if there was some small, non zero chance that he could pitch it, you know, at the very end of the season. And they dismissed that. But, I mean, I talked about this last week, you know, in the in the wake of Grayson Rodriguez going down, you know, Chase McDermott was put on the AAA IL, and he’s someone who I thought had the kind of arm, not that I thought he was going to replace Craig Kimbrel, let’s be clear. But he’s the kind of arm that I at least thought that that’s the kind of guy that maybe, maybe he could do what Tyler wells did at the end of last year, which, if you recall, by late September, Tyler Wells was pitching some high leverage late coming out of the bullpen. So that’s the thing. I mean, you still have to look at Kimbrel and try to ride this really ugly stretch and try to get him situated again, because we’ve already seen it, it, it worked out that, you know, after that stretch in late April, in the first 10 days of May, he was excellent for close to two months, you know, week a month and a half. Now, what’s scary about that is Nestor. Even if that works out and he gets back on a roll, you’re still wondering every time he takes the ball, is this going to be the time when he goes back into a funk? Because we’ve seen it multiple times now. But the point is, I mean, no, it’s different
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:54
than Mount Castle going into a slump or Adley rutschman Go. Well, you know, these guys have gone into slumps. You. You don’t have any latitude to have you your slump. Can’t be two batters in a one nothing ball game, independent race when you and the Yankees wake up tie for first place. I mean, like, yeah, yeah, this is, you know, it is not cut time right now, and they’re gonna have to go with what they’ve got. And I think we all agree what they have isn’t good enough. They’re gonna have to hit their way out of it. But that being said, somebody’s got to get outs in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning, no matter who’s hitting, and they really need to figure that. That’s job one. I think the hitting will come around. I’m with you, like they’re not going to score one runs much, and if they do, they’ll they’re going to lose right? Simple, yeah, yeah. And
Luke Jones 25:42
that’s the thing. I mean, that’s why I said you’ve got to try to ride this out with Kimbrough and look, they’ve already adjusted. I mean, it’s not as though Brandon Hyde is just putting them in in the ninth inning of save situations. Kimbrough hasn’t had a save since, what, early July at this point in time, so it’s been clear that they pivoted there, but they were in a position Sunday because of using the bullpen Friday and Saturday the way that they had to that you were, you were short handed in terms of your best guys, so you can’t just not pitch half the guys in your bullpen. I mean, it just doesn’t work that way. That’s why I said to you over and over and over leading up to the trade deadline that you need at least four or five guys that you feel really confident about using in most situations, because your closer is not going to be available every single game, your primary eighth inning guy is not going to be available every single game. So you’ve got to have at least four guys. And right now, I feel good about where Sir Anthony Dominguez is overall, I still feel good about where Cano is. We know Cano hasn’t been as dominant as he was last year. In the first three months we’ve talked about that. That was the case even going down the stretch last year. I mean, beyond that, it’s dicey. You know, Perez, at times, has looked good, and then other times, you get the version of CNL Perez that we saw on Sunday. Gregory Soto is what he is right now. I mean, I’m not pitching him in high leverage until he can at least string together some good outings. So they were kind of at a point with Craig Kimbrell where who else really in that spot? And I think with Kimbrel, they had kind of seen him look better in some of his more recent outings, albeit lower leverage, as he’d been pitching recently. And they tried to give it a whirl in the eighth inning on Sunday, and well, unfortunately, couldn’t throw strikes so and but in that spot, and I hear you, I think the key, and this is what they’re going to have to do with Craig Kimber. And I’ve said I, I was even thinking this before he went into this latest funk was, and this is where I credit Brandon Hyde. You can’t let the ship go down with him. If he struggles, you’ve got to make a move. But again, Sunday, they were short handed to the point where,
Nestor J. Aparicio 27:58
8yeah, what’s the next move?
Luke Jones 27:59
Who you turn the next move. Again, Dominguez was unavailable, canoe was unavailable. So it’s just, it’s tough. And again, many on the third team at that point, right? And this brings us back to,
Nestor J. Aparicio 28:10
it’s like asking to back up quarterbacks with the Ravens on Monday morning too. We’ll get to that later. But yes,
Luke Jones 28:15
this brings us back to, you gotta score more than one run. I mean, like,
8Nestor J. Aparicio 28:19
well, you know, I went back to the traffic at you a little bit a minute ago. I was laughing you because I’m thinking it goes back to your recipe last year, which is, they need to blow more teams out, right? You know, that makes the bullpen, but I don’t know when they’re winning seven to three and give up three in the seventh and make it seven to six and, yeah, and then you’re holding on for dear life, or, you know, whatever it is, I would say that don’t fall asleep on this team when they have a lead. That was something that was not an issue last year when they won 101 games. Is that, ah, they’re up six to two. Burns. Had a good outing. It’s the sixth inning. They’ll be fine. No, they won’t stay awake. Have Ben McDonald keep you awake, or Brian Roberts, or Jeff AR, whoever they’re putting me on somebody keep you keep me awake because it don’t turn it off, because anything can happen with the bullpen. Not a good feeling at all. And I went back, and I looked last year, and you know, I remember when you had the clubhouse passed, and we had to fight six innings to get and they didn’t let me in. And we had our tail between our legs. And we walked back to the hotel. We were discussing the end of the season and the little hotel we had right by Jerry’s world there and whatnot, and the late night beers, we snuck playoffs last year. You know, I looked up what happened in the playoffs last year, there are three losses. Three, two, right? Got good pitching. Couldn’t hit the ball. 11, eight, essentially got, you know, sort of blown out, right? Um, you know, and then hit the ball. Seven to one. They weren’t even in the game. They scored one run. Didn’t hit or pitch, right, right, right. So, so. Two runs, eight runs, good. Give you a chance, but gave up. 11. Was that the? Was that the Rodriguez game? No, yes, yeah, okay, yeah, Game Two was Rodriguez, yeah, yeah. And then, and then Rangers seven, Orioles one and outer and could be Rangers two didn’t matter, right? One runs, one run. They didn’t have to worry about that blink, bro. It happens quick. And it happens quick when you don’t hit the ball, and you don’t hit the ball for 48 hours, you do what, uh, Steph Curry you, you know, did to the French, you go to sleep. And so we can, and we’re going to when we when we’re not talking about the ravens, and when I not having Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Wes Moore and all these people on from Mako this week in Ocean City, but, but we’re going to talk to her blue in the face about all of this and how it sets up. But I still go back to my original premise at the beginning of this conversation, which feels like two hours ago, that they’re not the same team they were a month ago, and that team that was on fire in May into June, and they are what they are right now, in the same way that the Yankees are with there. And we’re going to see what the Red Sox are this weekend when they get here. And they’ve had their own problems, certainly with their own players being Jack wagons. But this team here, hmm, you know, no Grayson Rodriguez. This is, it’s a 91 team. This is an 88 win team. This isn’t 110 win team, as per as currently constructed with no Westburn with mayo that you know is going to have to go back. And, by the way, pizza John’s is back home with us in sponsor, I always recommend the mayo and the cheese steaks. I get throw that in anytime we say covid Mayo, it’s making me think of pizza John’s getting me hungry for some pepperoni and some pineapple, maybe some little sausage on there. But nonetheless, for me with this team and hitting the ball, I’m just going to check that box and say, if we spend six more months and we walk out of wherever we walk out of, if they lose feeling bad about it, it’s going to be because they didn’t hit the ball, but the pitching part of this on a day by day basis, and what, how they’re going to cobble this together without Rodriguez, until it happens, and I’m going to trust and say it’s going to happen, and wherever they Are with coulomb and wherever they are with Webb, seeing this and talking about this dude, this is going to be all we talk about until Lamar plays in three weeks.
Luke Jones 32:29
It is. And you know what else I’m going to say, even after the series loss or not the series Lost, it got a series win, even after the season or the series finale defeat, tied for the rest best record in baseball. They’re
Nestor J. Aparicio 32:43
winning a lot of games.
Luke Jones 32:44
8I mean, they haven’t won as many over the last six weeks, obviously, right? I mean, they’re, they were at one point, 24 over, and they finished the weekend 21 over. So since the since the final week of June, or thereabouts, what was it? June 20? June, 21 whatever it was, the final day in the Bronx, they’re they’ve played three games below 500 since then. But that’s not 20 below. That’s middling. It’s mediocre, obviously a little, you know, it’s bad, but not horrendous. Measure
Nestor J. Aparicio 33:14
this out over seven weeks if, if I said they’re a 90 win team, it’s because they’re both pens gonna piss games away, you know? And we’ve already seen that the offense is going to have some nights where it’s not going to be awakened at all, and some nights they’re going to score four and give up seven, and they’re going to waste good starts because of the bullpen, and furns are giving them a real chance. And so would Rodriguez if he’s back and he’s right and the lats right, and you know that? I mean right now, Suarez giving him a chance, right? Sure. Um, Kramer, yeah, yeah. We’ll talk about him after the next start and just keep going, uh, see where we get with that. But there, as much as we’re bagging on the ball, pen bagging on the board, 40 minutes into Craig Kimbrel, and they got a couple guys at the top that are special right now?
Luke Jones 34:04
Yeah, I mean, it’s and I’ll keep going back to this, see what the record is. And look at these other teams. All these other teams are dealing with issues. I mean, Yankees ended up getting a series win over the weekend, but they just lost the series to the angels. The angels stink, right? They were at home, and they lost Boston, having their issues, and just hasn’t the Mojo that the Red Sox had right before the all star break. They just haven’t recaptured that. You know, they have no great team right now against ball. I mean, Cleveland, for as impressive as they looked, and they really took it to the Orioles the first two games of that series, the Orioles kind of broke them. They ended up going on a losing streak, and, you know, they regrouped a little bit to finish the weekend, but we’ve talked about this, and okay, Houston’s on a winning streak now. They’ve won five in a row. Oh, wow, they’re up to seven games over 500 I mean, who are the who are the dominant teams? So I. Don’t say that, meaning that always completely fine with the Orioles. I say that in terms of we’re down to, you know, we’re at what, right around 4243 games to go. We’re roughly a quarter of the season to go at this point in time, and we’re getting very close to that point where it’s sprint time, but it’s wide open. This
Nestor J. Aparicio 35:21
will not be their best quarter. It’s, oh,
8Luke Jones 35:24
it hasn’t been, no, no. I
Nestor J. Aparicio 35:26
mean, they’re, they’re not going to go 30 and 10 the rest of the way. I
Luke Jones 35:29
mean, it’s tough to, you know, it’s tough to predict anyone doing that, right? I mean, that’s 750 ball, but they’ve got to, you know, they’ve got to figure out. They’ve got to piece together. They were capable of
Nestor J. Aparicio 35:41
8that earlier in the year, I don’t think they’re, I mean, sure. I mean, I lower my expectations on what they’re going to do, as well as for the Yankees, as well as for the guardians who were playing over their heads, right, like the way Tampa did last year, whatever. And I don’t think the Orioles were playing over their heads or out of their mind, playing 630 ball. I thought that’s probably the measurement of where they should be, if they had a healthy Bradish, if they had a, you know, if they had things working and percolating, and Webb was getting better in the bullpen, and they were finding answers. And, I mean, Dominguez might be an answer, right? I mean, I gave to no roses last week, and he’s been flowers ever since, right? So, um, I mean, they have some assets here, and they are the best team in baseball, and Brandon hogs not an idiot, and they have multiple all stars all over the diamond that can crush you. And one thing I wanted to say about the hitting that I didn’t get in, and I don’t know that we’re gonna, you know we’re at the nationals in town, the Red Sox. We’ll talk about that. But the hitting for me, all of these guys, when I say they’re trained to hit home runs, as I talked about three hours ago with them, and the home run riches. And, you know, everything’s a big they’re taught to hit one way and hit line drives. And, you know, hit the ball 108, miles an hour, right at somebody right there’s a little bit of that going on. That’s all that they go back and measure in regard to a good at bat is that, did I get good wood on it? Am I getting ahead of the bat out that I have good did I offer at a good pitch? A pitch that’s my pitch, and you hear them talk a whole lot more about it, but all of these guys can hit the ball, 420, feet at any minute, on the turn of a wrist, if they get their pitch in their zone, in their ballpark. There’s no mark Belanger or Rick Dempsey in this lineup. You know what? I mean, all these guys can hit the ball, including mayo, even though he hasn’t
Luke Jones 37:37
Well, I mean TBD, because until he has a major league hit. I mean, it’s tough, but how about Cedric Mullins? Is a good example of that, right? Cedric Mullins having a bad year at the plate. Let’s just call a spade a spade. He’d be the first to tell you that. But one, he can run down a ball and make a big play at a crucial point in a game, and we saw that over the weekend, and he can still hit the ball out of the ballpark. You know, he still has had his leading as they may be. He’s had his stretches where he’s hit the ball a little bit better now, Cedric Mullins is of your regulars. And look, he’s not even playing every day anymore. You know, we’ve seen that transition as far as him being more of a platoon kind of player, and at times, not even, you know, sitting against some righties even. But again, look around baseball, even the best teams. The Yankees have been a great example of this, right? And the Yankees are an extreme because they had the two of the absolute best players on the planet at the at the top of that order. And, you know, okay, they’ve added jazz Chisholm, and that’s, you know, that’s well and good, but they’re still in a position where half their lineup, if not more, is an issue for them on a nightly basis. I mean, you look at these other contenders, other teams that you consider you would hold in high regard, they’re not deep one to nine, right? I mean, the Orioles are about as good as it gets in terms of lineup depth. So that doesn’t mean the Orioles are perfect. Doesn’t mean that they’re in your that worst player
Nestor J. Aparicio 39:03
might be going to the Hall of Fame Jackson holiday, right? Their last guy on the boat. You
Luke Jones 39:08
know, he’s not their worst player anymore. I mean, he’s Fair enough. Fair enough. I mean, I mean, if we’re trying to judge it on where it is right now, and Mullins, it’s been, you know, we’re four and a half months into the season now, and he’s he’s their worst offensive player
8Nestor J. Aparicio 39:25
every day, too, right now, yeah, well, I
Luke Jones 39:27
mean, look, I mean Arias, and I’m glad you brought him up, because, look there, he’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 39:33
a regular now. He’s right, yeah,
Luke Jones 39:35
8he has been. And look, in an ideal world, he wouldn’t be and he wasn’t, because Jordan westburg was our third baseman or was going to be with holiday coming back up. So it is what it is, but he’s still a major league player. He hit a big home run on Saturday, you know, kind of saved them at a point where, you know, there was an example where their offense jumped out to an early lead. They had an opportunity to add to that. They did not. And then burns runs into some trouble. So there’s an example of even a game where the overall offensive production was good, more than acceptable. But at the same time, you know, they could have had a 10 spot, you know, they could have had an eight, eight or nine spot, because what it was second and third, nobody out. I want to say in what the fifth inning, I think it was, and they squandered that. So I want
Nestor J. Aparicio 40:20
to do my best Earl Weaver. And, you know, give you a hey, after I left out the belly, won a World Series with Todd Cruz and Floyd Rayford at third base, right? So, yeah, here’s a little bit of that, right? I mean, sure, sure. I do think Westberg will be back. I hope you’ll be back based on the kind of injury had. I don’t know what the rehab would look like in September or whatever, but he reminds me of surhoff, who I ran into last week at the blowfish concert, where, you know he’ll, he’ll, he’ll, he’ll do what the doctors tell him, he’ll be he’s a gamer. He’ll be ready to play. He’s not feeling sorry for himself. I just don’t I think he’ll be okay, and I I think I would count on and even though I just channeled a pretty good Earl Weaver for you there, and I probably could channel A Davy Johnson on Todd zeal at third base, you know, in the 90s, you know, as well as some Mark Reynolds and some people. Maybe we don’t want to think about right now as replacement players, but as a replacement player for this period of time they’ll be okay because they didn’t throw them on the scrap heat, like you and others said. And Mateo, like, I mean, you know, there’s, there’s a little bit more of a cavalry on that side of things, if Mayo has to go back to pizza. John, yeah, you know,
Luke Jones 41:37
I mean, I think, where I’m just concerned, and it’s not sitting here saying, Oh, I think Mike Elias is underselling these and these guys aren’t coming back, yada yada yada. I think it’s much more the case of and we’ve talked about this a lot in recent years, when the Ravens would have players coming back from major injury, right? There’s a difference between being healthy enough to come back and play and being healthy enough and locked in again and thriving and being the best version of yourself possible. And that’s where I have a little more concern with. You know, if Westberg misses six weeks, it comes back the last week of September, and I’m just throwing it out there. I
Nestor J. Aparicio 42:15
don’t know strength is to grab a bat. I don’t, you know. No, you know, the day that that happens is a press conference that he could grab a bat, let alone swing it, torque it, and take a ball coming on to it with whatever the that that thing that happened to him was a nasty pitch. We all saw it. Oh, and again,
8Luke Jones 42:33
for me, it’s not even, I mean, if he can’t grab a bat, he’s not gonna play, right? If he’s 100% healthy, that’s still not the same as being 100% effective and locked in and ready to be dropped back in in the midst of a playoff run. Right? Same thing for Danny cool, I’m on the pitching side. Same thing for Grayson Rodriguez, you know, Jacob Webb, it sounds like maybe he’s not going to miss a whole lot of time, so maybe there’s a little less concern there. But it’s still elbow inflammation. You know, it’s, it sounds structurally like there’s not a concern. But that doesn’t mean that he’s gonna drop, you know, be inserted back into the mix and be the best version of himself. So, so that’s where you just look at, you know, you mentioned Mateo. I’m a little less confident as far as whether he’s going to be back, you know, because, you know, the elbow, the dislocation. There’s been some conjecture and speculation about whether he’s going to have surgery or not. There’s been swelling. You know, I’ve seen him in the clubhouse. He was in the clubhouse last home stand, albeit wearing a big, bulky brace on his elbow. You know that one. I’m not as convinced that he’s going to be back. So and look, Jorge Mateo is probably not going to be the the X factor in making a deep October run, but these other guys are important, and they need to have them back, and not just back, but they’ve got to be effective. So that’s where I am. A little more, I want to say pessimistic, but concerned, right? Not not so much that Jordan Westberg is not going to going to come back before the season’s over, but what version of Jordan Westberg Are you going to get? Because he’s really important to what you do, and especially cool on and obviously Grayson Rodriguez and what they can mean because of just the need, the sheer need that they have in their bullpen and their rotation right now. So we’re gonna have to see. And again, it’s not as though they have an abundance of alternatives at AAA Norfolk right now. So that’s where I just look at this. And believe me, I hear the frustration I’m not confident in Craig Kimbrel coming out there right now. If you heard his comments after the game on Sunday, he fell on the sword, you know he’s not sitting there saying, oh, you know, I’m going to be fine. You know, he’s saying I haven’t been nearly consistent enough, and I’m hurting the team, and it’s really frustrating. So it’s not as though these guys want to do poorly, or they’re being flippant about it, or, you know, complacent, but you’re just, you get to the point where you look at your options and you’re just like, Okay, you. What’s really going to how are you going to get better, in terms of making changes, right? I mean, who at Norfolk Are you bringing up that you feel better about? I mean, rotation wise, are you bringing Cole Irvin back? You know? Are you bringing Cade bovid back? I mean, that’s why you just you need Dean Kramer to pitch better, because he has a track record of at least being better than he’s been this year, which is a 4.7 era. I mean, the last two years before that, he was much more of a league average starting pitcher, which, if he’s league average, you’ll take that in the back half of your rotation. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than what he’s been. You know, you need Trevor Rogers to be better, be what he was for the Marlins over his last eight or nine starts before he got traded. We’ve talked about Suarez and hoping he holds up, because he’s been such a godsend for them in whatever role they’ve asked him to fill. He’s done a nice job, but it still comes down to you need your best guys to be at their absolute best. So Corbin Burns, who I would even say burns since the all star break. Let’s be clear, still, the race still one of the best pitchers in the American League. All of that, all star game starter, all of that, but have we seen the absolute best version of Corbin burns over the last month? Probably not. They need him to be an absolute. I
Nestor J. Aparicio 46:17
was laughing a little bit because I’m like, well, we feel good about our fifth starter. The weird thing to say, Sure, well, I
Luke Jones 46:26
mean, Albert, but Albert Suarez, isn’t he? He? He’s our third starter right now. He’s been way better than Dean Kramer. And you know, Trevor Rogers has only been here five minutes so, but point is, as I was making with burns, we’ve seen f be excellent for them. He needs to continue this. This is way more than Zach Effen we saw for the rays last year, which was a guy that got Cy Young votes more so than the guy that was closer to average this year for the raise. But, you know, they, they need those two guys to do the job and bullpen. I mean, it’s, this is where I’ll I’ll stick up for Brandon Hyde a little bit, because it’s just, I don’t if we can sit here on our couches and not know exactly how they should proceed with their bullpen. How do you think he feels in when the bullets are flying for real and the pressure is on for real in terms of, okay, well, Dominguez pitched the last two nights, so he’s not available today, and same thing with Cano. I think I’ll go with CNL Perez here, and they might pinch hit, though, as the rays did on Sunday. And obviously that’s a factor. You know, Kimbrel has been better in some of these lower leverage situations of late. I kind of don’t have a choice. I need to use Craig in the eighth inning today, and, well, it didn’t work out. So, you know, can be bad at Brandon Hyde. And look, I took Brandon Hyde to task for his mishandling of the Toronto game last week. That was bad managing. I’ll call it what it was in that situation. But I think a lot of times we just judge it based off of what the end result is, and even if you thought Suarez should have been left in and I’ll agree with that, I’ll concur with that, I would have left him in there at the same time, seeing how Perez came in with two outs and nobody on. Gotta do your job like that. That’s not, it’s not like they put CNL Perez in an impossible position. And, you know, bases loaded, Noah helps that he gave up a run, right? I mean, so it’s a little bit of everything. And when you’re talking about a pennant race, when you’re talking about the division, we talked about what the landscape of the Al is, I think, even more so with with no dominant teams and so many teams just kind of jockeying to be in the playoffs, even more so it makes winning the division that much more important, not because of home field, because you want to avoid the best of three. I mean, you just do and that’s why I’ve said it over and over and over. I’ll take my chances with that weird rest week that the Orioles dealt with last year, and the Dodgers and the Braves have had some issues with the last couple years. But, you know, they’ve got to figure this out. And a lot of this is, unfortunately, on the bullpen side. A lot of this is trial and error at this point in time, like, who’s going to emerge? It might be Anthony sir, Anthony Dominguez being their clothes or down the stretch. I mean, at this point, after seeing Kimbrel struggle again, I’m not ready to put him back in that role. So might be him. Maybe it’s Cano, maybe it’s complete committee. Maybe Danny cool on comes back mid September, and maybe he’s closing some games when it’s lefties due up in the ninth inning. So it’s not ideal. I have my concerns. There are definitely things about this team I don’t love right now, but I will revert, once again, best record in baseball that top tied with the Yankees for the best record in the American League. And we can sit here and say, well, that’s not who they really are. Well, Bill Parcells said what you are, what your record says you are. And as much as it doesn’t feel that way, the Orioles are still right there. So hey, they’ve got, they’ve given themselves the luxury of still being in great position, still having, I don’t want to say cushion, because they don’t have cushion when you’re tied for first place, but they’re not in danger right now, right? So they’ve got to try to figure this out. And I’d like to sit here and act like I’m smart enough to say, I have the answers, but really don’t. I really don’t know.
Nestor J. Aparicio 50:24
They’re a little bit like Roddy Piper, you know, they change the questions, right? Yeah, you know so exactly and the questions do change. I mean, that’s it, Luke and I will be back after talking baseball all week, the birds, of course, hosting the Nationals, I have some Washington folks on John Feinstein joined us this week, as well as Howard balls is going to come talk some football with us this week. I’m going to be at Mako later in the week. Next Friday, we’re going to be down at fade, Lee’s and Lexington market. I like to say the new Lexington market. It’s beautiful. Come on down next Friday, cheatstrozer in town. I will have gold rush sevens doublers to give away. I might even have Raven scratch offs by then. I might cannot see Roz because the Raven scratch offs are out. I want to see what they look like. I bet they’re purple. We’re going to be I’ll find out, maybe on Thursday, Friday. Then at Mako, John Martin’s going to join us down there. Wendy Brown, fine for curio and foreign daughters going to join me down at the beach, as well as our senators, Ben Cardin, Chris Van Hollen, lots and lots of guests coming on. Zeke, covid is coming by. Just a bunch of people going to be coming by. Odette Ramos says she’s coming by. And I got some Ocean City people, Al Hondo, handy, Eastern Shore legend, basketball player and long time rec Council leader and coach, written a book. He’s going to be dropping by Ocean City over the weekend. Oh, Mayor me hand is going to be coming by. Tom prolazo is going to be coming by. That Sam’s brother. So it’s gonna be a big weekend in Ocean City. All of it brought to you by our friends at Royal farms. Real fresh, real fast. I’ll be gassing up and chickening up. Luke is going to be Owings milling. He’s going to be Camden yard. Zing, we’re all going to be together here this week, watching the birds take on the Red Sox over the weekend as well. All of it. Brought to you by our friends at Liberty. Pure solutions, keeping our water clean and Jiffy Lube, MultiCare, putting us out on the road. Plenty of ravens. Conversation ahead, some injury concerns. Falcons ahead. I hate fake football. Thank God for real baseball. I’m Nestor. He’s Luke. We are wnsd, hey at 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. You.
