On a night when the Orioles got Gunnar Henderson back on track and beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-1 in Phoenix, the post-game concern for the early exit of ace Zach Eflin looms large for a rotation and pitching staff that is already on fumes for quality starts in April. Luke Jones and Nestor stay up late this week as the Birds try to win their first series of the season.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Orioles, pitching issues, Zach Eflin, shoulder fatigue, bullpen depth, Gunnar Henderson, Albert Suarez, Grayson Rodriguez, Charlie Morton, Kyle Bradish, Felix Bautista, Brian Baker, offense consistency, injury concerns, trade deadline.
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio, Speaker 1
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 tasks of Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively into a West Coast trip here for the Orioles. On Friday, we’re going to be a cost this in in Dundalk. I will have the remaining batch of the magic eight balls to give away. Some point I’m going to have the Back to the Future scratch off, maybe some monopoly scratch offs as well. We will be getting the show out on the road next week. We’ll be at Beaumont on Wednesday, and then the following Wednesday, at Cooper’s pub and timonia Mays chapel, and then later in the month, at Coco’s on the 30th of the month, the Orioles hitting the ball a little bit getting the kind of pitching you need every fifth day out of their current number one starter, Luke Jones was up late last evening with the the Orioles in Arizona. And hey, man, good to see gunner Henderson hitting the ball. All the things we we talked about on Sunday kind of happened on Monday for them, yeah,
Luke Jones 00:59
well, you kind of gave the good news version of it, but I know a lot of people went to bed late, and the bad news is Zach Eflin left the game with shoulder fatigue. In fact, the really good start, you know, crisp wasn’t a whole lot of swing and miss, but Zach Eflin is not really that kind of pitcher anyway, but it really begged the question, when he leaves after six innings and only 73 pitches. We’ve talked a lot about this bullpen. It’s lack of length, it’s lack of optionable pieces where you know if you need to get a fresh arm. So it really begged the question, why are you taking Zach effing out? Especially I think 678, was due up in the seventh inning, and lo and behold, Brandon Hyde notes that he left with some shoulder fatigue. Now, couple things here doesn’t mean that it’s anything catastrophic. Zach Eflin, for what it’s worth, expressed optimism that he doesn’t think it was anything overly serious, but it’s the shoulder and you want to be really careful, and the Orioles are certainly going to have him go for for testing Eflin, if you recall, actually, what was it? Probably after he had made three starts with the Orioles, maybe four. Uh, he actually landed on the IL last August with right shoulder inflammation, and he was back 15 day minimum. So I’m not saying that’s what’s going to be. What happens here. I’m not saying he’s going to the i l, I’m not saying any of that. But on a night, as you expressed, where it finally felt like, Hey, this is a really clean game. They had some fantastic at bats against Zach gallon. They finally break through and chase him in the fifth inning with the three three spot, Gunnar Henderson, two hits, a walk, two stolen bases, look really looking like himself for the first time since returning from the IL they get a home run from O’Hearn in the first inning after they hadn’t hit a long ball in a few days and well, they couldn’t get through the entire night without some bad news. So it’s just one of those things where you just keep saying, when’s it going to end on the pitching front that? And that’s without even mentioning Albert Suarez was transferred to the 60 day il earlier in the day on Monday. So what happened on the field? Pitchers
Nestor Aparicio 03:11
go out? It feels like, you, you know, they made the Grayson Rodriguez thing sound like it was just a little, you know, stub in the toe like that. He could be back. And now it’s like maybe all star game, you know, like, I it really, once these guys get hurt, and it’s shoulder related, it becomes, as we are here this morning, box of chocolates. It might be he’s after the all star break. It might be He’s fine, but it feels like once they start to slip down the slope a little bit, they’re going to use all sorts of care and consideration before they think they’re going to come back and throw 3040, 70 pitches at max effort when they’re not right, when they’re not 100% these people, they’re not horses. They talk, you know, they speak out loud about how they feel. And you know, I just think this the whole state of pitching in the game. You know, every morning we wake up with something,
Luke Jones 04:05
it is. But at the same time with the Orioles, specifically, it’s kind of what we’ve talked about. I mean, they don’t commit long term money to pitching, okay, I I’ve talked about that. You You can recall me saying how many times last year that I had my reservations even about giving Corbyn burns the money he would require, and he’s been someone who’s been very durable, but as I always note, someone’s durable, and so they’re not anymore. And Garrett Cole was one of the latest, latest examples of that a month and a half ago, or whatever it was at this point. But It’s just frustrating, because you see where they are from a pitching standpoint, we’ve talked about the fact that they haven’t really drafted and developed their own pitching to a high degree of success. They trade, made some trades, and certainly had some guys where there’s been some success, like that. But with Kyle Bradish being someone they acquired in the Dylan Bundy trade, what? Six years ago, five years ago, whatever it was. So it’s not like they haven’t done anything. On that front. But then you look at what they do have, and they can’t keep that healthy either at this point. So it’s just, you know, it’s very unnerving. Again, it was Monday. Was a game that feel really good about. I mean, it was crisp. They had excellent at bats. You know, Zach gallons, one of the best pitchers in the in the National League, and he certainly wasn’t on his top game, and didn’t have his devastating curveball the way that he normally does, but they made him work, and they spit on a lot of close pitches. So it was, it was one of those games where you felt really good about it, and then you hear the news about Eflin afterwards, and you’re just like, Uh oh. So again, we’ll see how it plays out. It could be something very minor, but anytime you hear elbow or shoulder for a pitcher, even if it’s minor, it leaves you holding your breath and kind of fearing the worst. And as I mentioned, I mean, just a couple weeks ago, it was Albert Suarez, and then we find out that he has a strain in his, you know, muscle in his rotator cuff, and he’s gonna be out a few months. I mean, he’s already on the 60 day il he maybe he pitches at some point this June. You know, you never know. So you just look at how many hits they’ve taken from the start of spring training. Obviously, burns, being gone is the big one. But just from the start of spring Grayson, Rodriguez, Albert, Suarez, we’ll see on F. I don’t want to put F Lynn into that category yet, I mean, because he could be fine, but he’s dealing with something now and then you look at whoop go. I’m going down to get to the bullpen. Yeah, fair enough, but, but then starting depth pieces, Trevor Rogers, Chase McDermott, Bradish and Tyler. Wells are still coming back from elbow surgery last year, and it’s not ready, right? Gibson’s not ready. It’s not a health thing, but you’re still waiting on him. And then you have Kittredge in the bullpen, so it’s just one after another. And again, we’re not even the tax day, right? We’re not even to, we’re not even to talking about, they
Nestor Aparicio 07:00
never won a series, but they have Charlie Morton going to the hill.
Luke Jones 07:03
Yeah. So, I mean, it’s just, it’s very frustrating on that front and what are they going to do between now and the trade deadline? Where are they going to be health wise, between now and the trade deadline, these are big questions. Doesn’t
Nestor Aparicio 07:19
make a start. I don’t know who’s coming in. It’s not Suarez, to your point, right? It’s not McDermott. It’s not, we go down the list who publishes already here. They don’t want him here kind of, sort of, but, and I know you may take some umbrage with that, but I don’t think you know. I’m questioning how many major league pitchers they’re going to send to the post, and of the 35 plus variety, how they’re going to get out of the fourth or fifth inning most nights. And that’s where I go back to all of this. You know, if I want to get my press pass back, I got to keep this positive. So I was like going to get on the gunner Henderson, stealing bases and doing things that we almost forget, that he does when he’s not around, and how much energy that gives the team. I even saw ruchman, you know, with a little bit of attaboy that I’m feeling like, all right? Maybe Richmond’s back a little bit. I’m trying to evaluate the whole thing. I mean, Mullins had a good week, right? We’ve given him up for dead at various points now, castles hitting the ball like they’re going to hit off a right handed pitching right I mean, they’re going to hit in general, they’re going to struggle against good lefties. I don’t know that they have that combination, based on what we saw on Sunday, but and against crochet and guys like that, but they’re not going to see that every night. They’re going to hit the ball against right handed pitching there. You know this, this lineup is talented. They’re, they’re going to score eight runs enough nights to maybe offset some of these pitching deficiencies. Maybe, I hope, yeah, you hope so. But, man,
Luke Jones 08:50
8the attrition is just, I mean, it is just piling up already, and that’s where it’s just, it’s tough and, and, you know, I even saw some people make note, and obviously it’s social media and look Orioles fans are frustrated right now, as I wrote at Baltimore positive.com when you’re talking about a team that starts four and six individually, speaking in isolation, a four and six start doesn’t merit concern. It just doesn’t if you’re just looking at that solely, but it’s it’s a hangover. I think at least fans are experiencing a hangover with the Orioles right now. That goes back to the second half of last year. It goes back to being swept by the Royals, who just took two out of three from them, and certainly an off season that was, to me, at best, underwhelming. I think that’s the best way you could describe it, you know, and that’s that’s going coming from someone who wasn’t expecting them to resign Corbin burns, right? But I expected them to do more than they did. Pitching, wise, to your point, you know, that is an amazing
Nestor Aparicio 09:46
thing. If Mr. Rubenstein were here, or Mr. Allman the whistler were here, they would say, we’ve spent 20, we’ve spent $80 million that not, you know, like, I can, I can see that, yeah, that’s how you spend
Luke Jones 09:58
it. No, it. It’s not about the I mean, I’ve had this argument with you for a decade now, it’s not about spending
Nestor Aparicio 10:06
money shopping the market you’re going to shop at to some degree, right
Luke Jones 10:11
to a point, but at the same time, there are always shrewd moves to be made. I mean, I I talked about this a few years ago when the Rangers went out and signed Nathan of Aldi when the rays signed Zach Eflin, you know, those were the kind of moves at that point I thought would have been good for the Orioles make anyway. But my point is, with all of this, I mean, it’s just you can like what you like about the Orioles, and there are plenty of things to like. I talked about their position talent all off season, as far as why I was still bullish on them, even with my concerns about the pitching. But now, when the pitchers that you did have are starting to, you know, that’s starting to mount in terms of attrition. And, you know, I made mention Suarez, you know, I saw some people on social media saying, well, that’s not, you know, because I guess Brandon Hyde described it as a big blow, or a massive blow, something like that. And no, it not in terms of him being your number one or number two starter, but you need depth. You need more than five starters to get through a full season. I mean, we’ve seen Stevens was
Nestor Aparicio 11:11
a guy three nights a week that they wanted to bring in, in the fifth, sixth inning, get in 32 pitches and get you six seven outs, right, like that.
Luke Jones 11:18
He was going to be back in the rotation at some point, right? Because somebody was gonna get hurt, right, or someone else gonna be right. I mean, think, think about it. I mean, before Eflin arrived, you can make the very strong argument that Albert Suarez was their best, their second best, starting pitcher last year. I mean, he finished second on the club in innings, and he he took the ball and, you know, now, now he’s out of the picture until well into the summer. I mean, he’s already on the 60 day il so that’s the minimum. But Brandon Hyde said, hopefully, you know, he only misses a few months here. But, you know, you start talking in those terms, you’re wondering if he’s gonna pitch at all, or whether he’s going to be effective. I mean, it’s, you know, it’s a rotator cuff issue, which, you know it in some instances, can be worse than an elbow issue, you know, for a pitcher’s long term health. So, you know, it’s just, it’s very unnerving. It’s disappointing. I know there was a recent update on Kyle Gibson. It’s looking like he’s getting real close to joining an affiliate to get some get a couple starts under his belt, and then he should be in play. So, you know, that’s not too far down the road. Grayson Rodriguez, you know that still feels a ways away. You know, even though, you know it doesn’t sound like he’s not progressing or anything like that, but they started, they shut him down and started him
Nestor Aparicio 12:33
8over. Feels like it’s talking about Bradish last year, and it feels like that’s it could be but, but
Luke Jones 12:38
it’s not. I mean, it’s a different part of the elbow. So, I mean, no, no,
Nestor Aparicio 12:42
no. I’m just saying for the hope of the team and when he’s going to give you six innings like and look like Grayson Rodriguez would be a top of the rotation guy. I’m not penciling him in in July. Right now. I’m not penciling him in at all. I’m pretending they’re going to have to play without him. And that’s where I was on Sunday, right? I mean, right now they’re playing without him, and he doesn’t emerge and appear until he does. And I don’t get hope until I don’t get hope till I see him. You didn’t
Luke Jones 13:10
have hope that gunner Henderson would be back, which, you know, I told you he would be. But it’s different for pitchers than it is for hitters. It is, but at some point in time, then you just look at this and say, well, they’re not gonna have enough pitching to be a contender. Then, I mean, and, and then you start to get to a point where you question the merit of even going out and trading all your prospects for for what to kind of duct tape together some dude,
Nestor Aparicio 13:33
I brought that up on Sunday to hear that it’s Tuesday, and now it’s like, we don’t have enough. I mean, I’m not saying throw a towel or anything.
Luke Jones 13:40
I’m talking about this in the terms they just lost potentially or losing the race. That’s why the conversations change from Sunday, sure. I mean, fair enough, you know. I mean, and that’s also with now working under now an understanding that you’re not going to have Albert Suarez even as an option. So, you know, you just look at this thing and, you know, kind of is what it is. And a
Nestor Aparicio 14:02
hell of a Monday in the desert, wasn’t it? Yeah.
Luke Jones 14:05
And, like I said, the shame of it is it was a really positive game. And we haven’t even mentioned Felix Batista looked really good in the ninth inning, 123, inning. Yeah, the split look good. Think velocity. I think he touched 98 I mean, you know, his his velos, and he threw the ball Sunday.
Nestor Aparicio 14:21
He threw the ball in the ninth inning. Like, did some warm up in the bullpen late Sunday, correct? I’m guessing, yeah. I mean, I just didn’t think he would pitch a month because of, you know, like, yeah, I guess that was just his day to work. Yeah. I don’t know how much that almost looked like. Maybe he did a little touch and feel because they, they were hoping maybe if they mount a comeback in the ninth inning, then yeah, sure, you could kind of crank him up. But I don’t think he went, I don’t think he went full blown, warm, barely he did or whatever he did, yeah, because he won the pitch this Monday, yeah, but yeah. But when I saw him out there throwing around on Sunday, I’m like, That’s kind of weird to have him throw. And because you have to play three games in a row that I don’t, you know, I just saw it, and these are the questions I don’t get to ask when I’m not around and they’re on the road anyway. But I did see him throwing in the cold in Kansas City, and thought that’s kind of odd. That’s all
Luke Jones 15:13
well, it was just, it was because if they mounted a comeback, I mean, you know, they were down four to one. It’s not like they were down by 10 runs.
Nestor Aparicio 15:20
Well, these guys throw the ball around every day, and then, you know what days they’re going to run their horses. That, to your point, whatever they’re doing, it’s working out okay with him right now. So let’s, let’s get some good news. Yes,
Luke Jones 15:34
yeah. I mean, he’s, you know, he’s pitched three times now, I think he looked on Monday night was the best he’s looked. It was the, you know, the results were, were the best that we’ve seen. And, you know, his first, first outing in Toronto was, I don’t think was bad. I mean, he gave up a hit and a walk, but I thought the stuff looked good. Thought he looked healthy. I thought, you know, his delivery looked good. Got some swing and miss. So, so that was good to see. I mean, I I’ve said this as someone who was extremely down on the bullpen in the wake of Kittredge and talking about David Robertson, other than CNL Perez, and now losing Suarez. You know, obviously that’s a big one, but not knowing exactly where he was going to fit in the bullpen, it’s hard for me to talk about him in those terms. But CNL Perez has been awful, and really, everyone else has been pretty good, and in some cases really good. I mean, I think Brian Baker kind of has looked like a different pitcher. I don’t want to jinx him, because we’ve seen him have good stretches in the past before, but good change up, you know, better movement on his fastball than we’ve seen in the in the past.
Nestor Aparicio 16:39
Different instruction this year too, right? I mean, with French, you just sort of where all of the measurements of the sigma, dels and all of the pitching these guys should, there should be a couple of guys that get better, right? A couple of guys that you look at and say they fixed that guy. That’s what they’re supposed to be doing. Because they don’t fix somebody’s I mean, Brian Baker weren’t here. If he’s not fixed, he’s had options. He’s just gone right, like, literally,
Luke Jones 17:04
yeah, yeah, I’d feel better about what you just said. And look, I mean, Albert Suarez, Danny coulomb, a couple years ago and that, and that was before drew French. But, you know, they’ve certainly had their reclamation projects that have worked out. But I, I’m not as moved by that side of it as much if they can’t keep their pitchers healthy right. And then you start to ask, okay, is there something amiss here? Is there something they’re not doing in terms of recovery? Is there something they’re not doing in terms of monitoring? And then you’re reminded that pitchers around baseball get hurt, and the Dodgers who spend more money than anybody continue to have pitching injuries and concerns, and that’s where I’ll remind everyone, as much as we talk about an ace. I mean, the Dodgers did not have an ace available to them in the world series last year, and they, they found a way they they patch work together their rotation, and, you know, with duct tape and openers and and guys that you know were kind of sort of coming back from injury and were able to help them, but not full blown. And the year before that, the Rangers didn’t have a true ace. So you know, it’s not even for me, when I’m talking about their starting pitching concerns right now, or their pitching concerns in general, it’s it’s not even the lack of a true ace. It’s just you need to have enough bodies that you can trust that that can stay healthy. And that’s where right now, it’s just, and it’s just, it’s very unsettling where they are already. And now this effluent thing, which, again, could be nothing, you hope it is, maybe he won’t even miss a start, but for him to come out of the game. And you know, Brandon Hyde made mention of that his velocity was down a little bit in his last inning. I mean, maybe just not even a full tick. I mean, I looked at it, it was his velocity was not way off in the way that even, you know, Suarez, his velocity was down in his first outing in Toronto that, oh, the disappointment was
Nestor Aparicio 18:55
73 pitches right, because he was always waiting, maybe going eight, right, like, I
Luke Jones 18:59
mean, at least seven. I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know if you’re going to push him to 100 there, especially this early in the season. And effluent is not really a guy that, you know, he’s definitely a guy that you’re you’re kind of looking to see what the contact looks like. There had been a couple balls squared up against him in that last inning, even though he got a 123, inning, you know, there was a little bit of hard contact, but certainly one more against the bottom of the Arizona order. You know, if he were facing 123, there, you could have even made an argument. Okay, you do have your top guys available in the bullpen. I think I was trying to rationalize that, or think, at least in terms of how Brandon Hyde might have been thinking about it. But then we find out, of course, you know, he’s got some shoulder fatigue. But yeah, that was a night where he wants he gets through seven, and then you’re only using two bullpen arms, compared to three. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 19:43
it also gets more weird when you have Morton coming out on Tuesday night and you have to play a day game on Wednesday where, like Wednesday will be depleted to begin with, and trying to figure out what you’re going to get out of Charlie Morton at this point too, and what you’re going to get out of the rest. To these guys. Luke is here. By the way, you can follow him in Baltimore. Luke, we’re talking some Orioles baseball. Here’s the birds are out on the West Coast victory with, with, you know, some caveats off of Monday night. But I the the interesting part for me now, as we talk two weeks ago, when you me and shining got together. I think the headline I put up at Baltimore positive was something like trying to win with the bottom of the rotation a pack of four and fives. Now you really get to that point if ethlyn is going to miss a starter three or five? Yeah.
Luke Jones 20:35
I mean, this is me doing the emoji shrug. I mean, I don’t know Well,
Nestor Aparicio 20:41
Charlie Morton’s the guy you signed to give you the ball every fifth day to get you five innings at least, and five innings at not a nine clip. Er, a either. So, well, you know, I don’t know. To your point, like, how long do you go with guys you’re paying $15 million to, I don’t know. Dude, it’s like April 8, and we’ve already got, we’ve already got, you know, the syndrome we had last year with the closer right where, you know, with Kimber, we were like, you know, how long do you go? How long is too long when they’re 35 or 40 years old and their era is nine, you know, this is where Charlie Morton has to, you know, find the ghost of 2016 or something. I mean,
Luke Jones 21:20
he does. But who are they going to turn to? I mean, he’s going to get the ball. He’s going to continue to get the ball. And as I pointed out to you, he was absolutely better from an eyeball test, from a stuff test, from a swing and miss a test, absolutely was better against Boston than he was in Toronto, where I really was wildly unimpressed with how he looked. I thought he looked much better. Gave up two two run Homers. I mean, that was the difference between a start where you’d say, hey, that wasn’t too bad. And, yeah, it’s got a nine era. And I’m not not sitting here saying that it was good enough. I’m just saying in terms of actually watching it, rather than looking at the box score, there was a step in the right direction. But you can’t give up too long balls. I mean, it’s obvious, right? I mean, you can’t do that, and he knows that, so. But all that being said, I mean, they’re at a point with their starting pitching and the health of their pitching, where you can say all you want about, well, they need them to be better, or else, or else. What? I mean, who’s coming in to replace him at this point in time, when you’re already at a point now where you’ve lost potential, you know, well, you have lost Grayson Rodriguez until he comes back, and we’ll see about Eflin. So I know Who the hell’s pitching in, Norfolk at this That’s what I’m saying. I mean, Chase McDermott and Trevor Rogers. They’re progressing and like they’re moving closer to get to coming back, but they’re not pitching yet. So that’s the thing. You look at, what is that triple A right now? And say, like, Okay, I hear you. Charlie Morton has a nine era. I hear you. He has to be better. I agree. But this is not a case of someone’s waiting to take his job and you’re going to shift them to long relief. I mean, we’re nowhere close to that point in time, just because you’re you’re just running out of bodies, like healthy arms are dropping at this point in time. So you really need this thing to stabilize. And again, it doesn’t mean that these guys are going to start going seven and giving up two runs, right? I mean, we understand that. And to your point, if you have more performances from your offense, like they got on Monday, which it wasn’t a 11 or 12 spot on the board, go out there and score five runs, good at bats, draw walks, steal some bases, hit Well, in some situations where you’ve got runners in scoring position, and that’s an offense that will play and give you a chance to win. If you’re pitching is okay, if your pitching is mediocre, that’s the kind of effort that you’ll have a chance to win. Their offense has been so all or nothing. It’s been so feast or famine, where you’re hanging 910, 11 runs on the board, but then you’re scoring one the next day that that’s gonna, you know, that hurts. That’s what we saw too much the second half of last year, right? I mean, you know, revisionist history. They’re off. Their offense wasn’t terrible the second half of last year. It wasn’t anything close to terrible. It was frustratingly inconsistent, in the sense that you’d see them look like them at their best, but then that would go away for two more days, and then it come back, and they’d score a couple, you know, hang a couple big run totals on the board and but it was just so up and down, rather than, like I said, I’ll take five runs a night, right? I mean that that will put them right up there with the best offenses in baseball, if they score five runs a light a night. But can it be more consistent? Can it be a more consistent four or five, six runs a game, rather than 11, and then you score a total of three the next two days? Right? I mean, whereas you look at that and you do the math and say, well, that’s not a bad average, but that one game, you had a great chance to win, even if you’re pitching stung. Like, and those other two games, even if you’re pitching was good, you’re still maybe not winning. So that’s where you just look at this thing, and you made the point. And I agree. I mean, Gunner Henderson looked like gunner Henderson on Monday night. And it’s amazing how much better that lineup, how much more dynamic that lineup feels when you have him at the top of the order doing the things that he can do was
Nestor Aparicio 25:21
almost like Ricky Henderson, I mean, like stealing bases. Like, that’s a weird thing, you know? Yeah. I mean, he’s not, I mean, he’s not that. I mean, no one was, no one’s Ricky but, but if you got a starter, they can keep an eye on him with the new rules of the game. He’s singles become doubles, walks become doubles,
Luke Jones 25:38
yeah. I mean, and, and a lot of that. It’s really, it’s just the threat of him doing that as well. I mean, it’s, it really is a case of, he’s not going to be a guy that steals much more than, I think what last year he stole, think it was 21 stolen bases. You know, he’s not going to be a guy that steals. But
Nestor Aparicio 25:57
he’s not Cal Ripken dude. He’s not the senses. He’s not your old school shorts, he’s not even a rod or
Luke Jones 26:04
any he’s leading off. I mean, he’s leading off because it’s a different
Nestor Aparicio 26:07
kind athlete, a Mickey Mantle kind of athlete, a five tool kind of athlete. That’s why I’ve
Luke Jones 26:12
said, I mean, I mean, he’s there. He’s there. Aaron judge, it’s not the same exact skill set, of course, but he’s that dynamic of a player. I mean, this was a guy that he was worth according to baseball reference, and look, we can look at all the other numbers. He had 31 doubles. He had 37 home runs, 92 RBI is he had an 893, ops. He had 281, a 364,
Nestor Aparicio 26:34
you miss him in the lineup the first eight games because, like, he gets on base three times at night. He
Luke Jones 26:39
was an he was a nine win player last year. He was a 9.1 wins above replacement. I mean, that’s an MVP player that you know. Cal Ripken at his absolute best in 83 and 1991 he was a 10 or 11 win player. I mean, that’s what you’re talking about there in terms of not just the offense, but you know that. And for gunner, the defensive profile, I know he made the errors last year. I still think he has all the makings to be a really good shortstop, you know, and maybe not a Gold Glove shortstop, but an above average shortstop. And when you talk about getting that kind of a profile at that position, where it can be at a premium, that’s why Bobby Witt and Gunnar Henderson are already being talked about in terms of having a chance to be true generational talents, you know, guys that could be Hall of Famers if they do this for at least 15 years. And obviously, you know, talking getting way ahead of ourselves, but just having that potential, that skill set, that profile that tends to age pretty well and tends to be very, very valuable for an extremely long time, even if gunner Henderson, in his 10th season, moves back to third base, you know, something like that, you know, like Cal Ripken did late in his career. So, you know. So it was great to see that, and it wasn’t anything to be worried about him, by the way. You know, we were talking about Rafael Devers and how he looked like late career Chris Davis, you know, his first week of the season, he’s back to looking like Raphael Devers, seeing him hitting home runs and and extra base hits and so it’s and he was another guy who missed a large portion of spring training. It’s a timing game, dude. Yeah, it is so. So when you have an injury in spring, even though the Orioles were 1,000% in the right to be as careful as they were with him, to say, look, we don’t care about you playing in Toronto. We’re going to get you right. And if it means you’re going to miss opening day, so be it. But he only had five minor league rehab games, and you know, whether he had five or seven or whatever, you come back to the major leagues and you’re facing legit Major League pitching, it’s going to take you probably at least a couple games to to really get your your legs and get your timing at the plate. So hopefully Monday was the start of that, because he looked much more like himself.
Nestor Aparicio 28:50
You know. Well, one for 14 starts, then the confidence starts to go right.
Luke Jones 28:55
It does. And I think what was tough about that was he actually, he really squared up a few balls in that first game that he played, where in Kansas City, where you say, man, he hit the ball hard, but didn’t get results. And then the swing and miss started to mount the couple days after that, where you say, All right, now you start to worry. And then, but had a good game in Arizona, believe me, of all the Orioles concerns, Gunner Henderson’s at the bottom of the list. You
Nestor Aparicio 29:19
said that about Adley rut last summer too. But look, Jones is here, so I’ll give you the list here, Brandon young, Kyle burnovich, who’s missing a vow, but that’s great. I have an extra one. I’ll give
Luke Jones 29:29
him. He was, he was another pitcher they got in the Bundy deal, a role.
Nestor Aparicio 29:34
We’ll throw him in Thaddeus ward. You know, at this point, I’m not putting Cameron Weston in there a couple innings, but Brandon Young’s had the best success, yeah, so far this year. Well, and
Luke Jones 29:44
Brandon Young was, you know, he was a minor league pitcher, you know, got recognized last year for for what he did. So, you know, he’s, he’s on the radar to some degree. He’s
Nestor Aparicio 29:54
got to be a next man up here, because it ain’t Suarez taking a spot start as effluents really hurt, right? Right, yeah. I mean, by the way, supposed to rain this weekend here too. And also, Jays are in cold, rainy
Luke Jones 30:07
winters back. Yeah, I was actually gonna make a comment to you. I feel like I’m back in Toronto with the way the weather’s turned again. Baltimore positive sweatshirt there. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. But, yeah, Brandon Young would probably be the next man up again, with the caveat that Gibson is getting closer, but still, you know that although if something happens with Eflin, I would be curious to see if they would adjust that and say, Look, maybe we have to go with Gibson, and he might be on a pitch count of 75 but that still might give us a better chance to win than going with one of these other guys who is just plain not ready to pitch in the majors. So it’s not great. It’s not but
Speaker 1 30:49
Monday, they won. It did look good. It looked good. It’s a good
Nestor Aparicio 30:52
news. Final for you. Mark, fine. There you go. So there you go. So you know,
Luke Jones 30:57
and again, it’s just, it’s disappointing, because Eflin has been the rock so far. I mean, three starts, three quality starts. He’s gone six in each of those absolutely would have gone a minimum of seven a Monday night, barring something strange, you know, if he wasn’t feeling some fatigue in the shoulders. So, you know, I will say this typically, if they are really concerned about a pitcher. They’re not available after the game to talk Eflin. Now, he has a grown up. He’s not going to say too much, one way or the other, in terms of worrying about guys talking about their injuries. You know, the whole NFL mindset. He did talk to the media, and I that was, I hope, a sign that maybe there isn’t too much concern about this, but certainly you want to be careful. And you know, just three starts into into the season, it’s, it’s unnerving to hear that about the guy that whether he’s a legit, true number one ace or not, he’s your race, so you need him to stay healthy. Tell
Nestor Aparicio 31:55
you what man is seeing all this Arizona out there. I got to join out there with the best tacos. I’m going to get over to El Guapo next week and make things right around here while we’re out in Arizona, I’m missing these good road trips Toronto coming in this week. The liars luncheon is next week. Luke and I have put a little bit of a respite on the NFL talk, at least for this week. We’ll get plenty of that going on. Mike tenier joined me to a preview the draft. Also caught up with the great Len Elmore about n i l money and how Florida Gators bought their way to a championship on Monday night. Also we’re I had Barry bloom on talking about the money of Major League Baseball and streaming. And really, you know, I have a dear Katie Griggs letter coming my way and your way of Baltimore positive later on in the week, Luke and I are going to get back and reconvene after every Orioles game, at least during the weekdays in the near short term, trying to figure out the pitching, the hitting, all that good stuff. You can find Luke in Baltimore, Luke, you can find us both at Baltimore positive, I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stopped talking Oriole baseball. Baltimore, positive. Stay with us. You.
