Getting swept away by Orioles momentum

In a season with not a lot to get excited about, a three-game sweep of the first-place Tampa Bay Rays and better pitching has Luke Jones and Nestor ready to pick the Birds off the carpet and out of the cellar. And here come the Toronto Blue Jays.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Baltimore Orioles’ recent momentum, highlighting their sweep over the first-place Tampa Bay Rays. The Orioles have won five of six games, their first three-game winning streak since early April, and are one game out of the final wild card spot. Key performances include Trey Gibson’s first start at Camden Yards, where the team scored five runs in the first inning, and Gunner Henderson’s two home runs. The conversation also touches on the need for better performance from players like Chris Bassitt and Tyler O’Neill, and the potential impact of upcoming roster changes with the return of Ryan Helsley and Dean Kramer.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Obtain copies of Ms. Pac-Man to bring for giveaways (as discussed with John Martin) for upcoming Baltimore Positive summer events.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Prepare and bring Maryland Lottery ‘Maryland Treasures’ giveaway items to summer road events promoted on Baltimore Positive.
• [ ] Record and present the Ravens segment immediately after the Orioles discussion on the show (Ravens segment to follow this conversation).

Outline

Orioles’ Recent Success and Upcoming Games

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Orioles’ recent sweep over the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, highlighting the team’s momentum.
• Luke Jones notes the Orioles’ recent performance, including winning five of six games and their first three-game winning streak since early April.
• The conversation touches on the Orioles’ current position, being one game out of the final wild card spot, and the positive vibes within the team.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the team’s defensive improvements and the importance of maintaining good play.

Reflections on Past Games and Player Performances

• Nestor shares his experience of watching the Orioles play at Nats Park and Capital One Arena, mentioning his preference for Pittsburgh over DC.
• Luke highlights the significance of the Orioles’ recent performance, including scoring five runs in the first inning and the contributions of Trey Gibson.
• The discussion includes memories of past games, such as the Albanaz night with two grand slams and the team’s struggles against the Yankees.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of players like Blaze Alexander and Gunner Henderson, noting their contributions and potential for future success.

Orioles’ Roster and Management

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Orioles’ roster, including players like Blaze Alexander, Gunner Henderson, and Jordan Westburg.
• The conversation touches on the importance of defensive players and the challenges faced by players like Tyler O’Neill and Chris Bassett.
• Luke emphasizes the need for better performance from players like Bassett and Trevor Rogers, noting their underperformance.
• The discussion includes the impact of injuries on the team and the importance of maintaining good health.

Future Prospects and Team Dynamics

• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential for the Orioles to play meaningful baseball into the summer and possibly even October.
• The conversation includes the importance of the upcoming series against the Toronto Blue Jays and the need for the team to continue playing well.
• Luke highlights the impact of the new coaching staff and the individualized hitting meetings, which may be contributing to the team’s improved performance.
• The discussion touches on the potential for players like Dean Kramer and Ryan Helsley to return and improve the team’s rotation and bullpen.

Challenges and Opportunities for the Orioles

• Nestor and Luke discuss the challenges faced by the Orioles, including the need for better performance from key players and the impact of injuries.
• The conversation includes the importance of players like Blaze Alexander and Gunner Henderson continuing to perform well.
• Luke emphasizes the need for the team to maintain good health and avoid further injuries.
• The discussion touches on the potential for the Orioles to play meaningful baseball in September and possibly even October, depending on their performance.

Luke Jones and Nestor get exci…ver first place Tampa Bay Rays

Thu, May 28, 2026 7:17AM • 46:33

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

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Orioles momentum, Tampa Bay Rays, sweep, Baltimore Positive, Maryland crab cake, Maryland Lottery, GBMC, Farnham and Dermer, Lamar Jackson, Toronto Blue Jays, wild card spot, starting rotation, Trey Gibson, Blaze Alexander, Tyler O’Neill.

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W N S T A M 1570 Towson Baltimore. We call this Baltimore Positive, positively getting back out on the road. We are really doing the Maryland crab cake towards new places. I’ve been on the phone, you know, it’s harder to find new places. I mean, it’s easy to get like Pete on the phone, except when his daughter’s graduating, and Nick’s going to see Springsteen, and it’s easy to get Marcella, like I take people I know, but if you have a crab cake place out there and you want to see us there, summer is the time to do it. It’s all brought to you by Friends at the Maryland Lottery. I’ll have the Maryland Treasures to give away. I told John Martin I got to get some Ms. Pac Mans because I was always a big Ms. Pac-Man fan, as well as our friends at GBMC, had a great piece with a fellow who’s an old-school listener to our program, but also Russ Sadler, he’s an engineer and takes care of all the buildings at GBMC, and if you’ve been over there lately, you’ve seen they’ve expanded, but that was great conversation, he’s a ers fan, so as you can tell, I, I offered two copies of Purple Rain, too, for him. Also, our friends at Farnham and Dermer, they are the comfort guys. 410 36777 I’m glad they gave me an easy number, because it’s harder to say the name than it is to remember and say the number. I said phone numbers here for 35 years, it’ll be 28 years on August the third that we celebrate having WNST here in your life and ours. I’m not sure if the Orioles are going to be in the race or not, but Luke, I did not sing with Springsteen and Nick and Don Sheeler and Scotty P and Billy Yerman and all my Springsteen mafia, I did not go to the show. I find going to Nats Park or even Capital One Arena, given my take on the Leon’s people, to be like sort of like I went to Pittsburgh last week to see Springsteen. Nobody knows that, you know that I didn’t put it online, but I stopped in Pittsburgh to see Springsteen because I just didn’t want to go to DC, because I didn’t want to go to that stadium, and like all of that, so I wound up at the bar at Costa’s Jen, and I at the Costas Atimonium, and I got a little salmon, St. Michael, and man, we got, you know, mixologist John was mixing up orange crushes, and you know, my wife’s ordered a big steak, a mistake night, and we’re like settling in at like literally sat down at 628 and got menus, and we’re like, we’re gonna watch the game at Costas, and man, like five rolling, ba boom, ba boom, ba boom. You and I were talking about the kid pitching at a kid’s pitch, and I got people at the bar saying, Gibson, who’s Gibson, Bob Gibson, I’m like, no, no, no, Kirk Gibson, no, no, no, no, no, Stan Gibson from Stan Stock, my friend, no, no, no, like Trey Gibson, so I don’t know, dude, you tell me, sweep over the Rays, maybe on August the third when we celebrate our 28th anniversary, and you’re immersed in the sweat and grime of Camp Cream Puff Minter out knowing smells that you will not regret having not been there on Wednesday night, and instead flew off with Lamar, who still wants to be here forever, but like, dude, it sweeps a sweep, and it’s good, it’s good, I mean, you know, they’re on a heater, it’s good, I love it,

Luke Jones  03:19

they’re playing good baseball, they’re doing exactly what I said they needed to do as they embarked on this 10 game homestand. They’ve won five of six. They have their first three game winning streak since early April. They have their first series sweep since early April. The vibes are good. They’re having fun all of a sudden, and if there’s one thing that I said to you last week, amidst all the talk about Mike Elias or Craig Albernaz or this player or that player, what needs to happen, what isn’t happening, I said to you at the time it might feel like it’s over, but it’s not over, because they’re not 18 games under 500 like they were through 50 games last year, like they’re not in a place where the math is so impossible, so dire, that there’s no path, right? I mean, like, you just look at it that way. So they’ve had a really good week there, as they now host the Toronto Blue Jays, they’re literally one game out of the final wild card spot. That’s not to throw a parade, that’s not to say they’re back, that’s not to say they’re fine, that’s not to say that everything’s peaches and cream from here, but they are in a position where they’re feeling really good about themselves, they’re playing better baseball. I think you know it’s not perfect, the defense is still what it is, although I think it’s been better than it had been, which was really, really bad not long ago. We’re seeing obviously you have a day where you played five runs in the very first inning, where you help out someone who’s making his first start at Camden Yards. You played five runs in the first inning for the first time, and I think two years go back to 2024 May, hey, that’s when the Orioles were flying high, right, and, and we were wondering if they were the best team in baseball, or certainly one of the best. So, you don’t want to make too much of it. At the same time, I’m also not going to be dismissive of what’s been a really good week, and after hearing for two months this notion from the club, you know, whether it was Craig Albernaz or whether it was players, and look, I get, I get that they’re going to say this, they’re trying to pump themselves up, they’re trying to show confidence, but after hearing them say for the better part of two months we can play with just about, or not, not just about, we can play with anybody, which it rings hollow when you’re, when you’re not winning any more than two in a row when you’re not sweeping series when you’re getting embarrassed in the Bronx, even though they did come back and win a series against the Yankees the following week. Following week,

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Nestor Aparicio  05:51

it was heroics, dude. I mean, Colton Cal’s written a walk off, and I mean to your point, the Albanaz night that you point to, I mean, the two grand slams in the afternoon before they got their brains beaten in against the, I mean, they’ve had, dude, we’re only two months into the season, we’re 60 days in, and I’ve just given you 789, examples of games where things have happened that have been memorable, but then when you’re eight games under 500 you’ve been swept by the Pirates, the Yankees, the Rays, and that’s what that, that is the not the highlight of their season, but that’s the lead story, that’s the thesis, that, along with Westberg and Henderson hitting 200 and Alonso not coming to life, and Holiday not being there, and the pitching fun, like we can go through all of that, but like you know, at the end of the day you start getting swept on the road early in the season by your rivals, and you’re in the cellar. Fire the general manager’s the column I’m supposed to write.

Luke Jones  06:50

Well, I mean, look, we’re not going to sit here and say Michaelias is safe now, but this sure beats the alternative of having to talk about that, and mostly that for four months, right? You and I both said it’s a really long summer when you don’t play meaningful baseball. There’s only so much you can do, right? They’ve already fired a manager a calendar a year ago. You weren’t going to do that.

Nestor Aparicio  07:17

Notice, we’re not talking about Lamar right now, even though Lamar spoke right,

Luke Jones  07:21

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that was my lead at Baltimore positive.com on a day when Lamar Jackson was the center of attention in Owings Mills, the Orioles kind of reminded that, hey, we’re not ready to concede the spotlight just yet, and that’s a good thing, because we’re not even into June, right? I mean, if you want to wait for unbated breath for every update with OTAs and mandatory mini camp. Look, I’m not going to tell anyone how to, how to live their sports life, but that’s not a whole lot of excitement still for a very long time, right? So it’s a long summer, and the fact that the Orioles are playing better, the fact that the American League is a mess, you know, going beyond Tampa Bay and the Yankees, and the point I was getting ready to make, when you actually show that you can play with the team that has the best record in the American League, then yeah, that’ll, that, that’ll make me sit up and take notice, and say, hey, well done, that, that is good, that is more of what it looks like, and you know what, Trey Gibson, I mean, look, they, they were able to stake him to a big lead early on. I’m not going to sit here and make too much of the start. The three double plays really helped him. Let’s call a spade a spade. He did walk four and five and two thirds innings. He didn’t miss bats. I’m not going to sit here and say, based on what I saw, I’m predicting greatness for Trey Gibson, but he followed up what we’ve seen recently from Kyle Bradish, Shane Bos, Brandon Young, doing what he’s done. Right, you need that right. The starting rotation, look, we’ve talked about every phase of this team coming up short, but when you have a starting rotation that I believe even with the recent mini resurgence they’ve had going into Wednesday night, I think they were still 28th in the majors in starter ERA, right? It speaks to just how bad the rotation has been, and no, it’s not all because of Zach Eflin and Dean Kramer. They’ve had four guys in that rotation all year, you know. I guess Rogers had the IL stint, so I want to be accurate there, but they’ve had four guys in that rotation that until recently they all were underperforming, right, and they’re still getting underperformance big time from Trevor Rogers and Chris Bassett. So, but it is amazing, and this is where you compliment Trey Gibson for the poise that he showed and the fact that he was able to get ground balls in some opportune spots to for his defense to be able to turn double plays. It’s amazing how much easier the game looks when you do receive good starting pitching, right? And they’ve gotten more of that of late, that needs to continue. They need Kyle Bradish to continue what he’s doing. They need Shane Boz to look more like he. Has the last couple times out, I mean, his last, you know, his start against Tampa Bay in this series was terrific. I mean, he, he was really good. They need Trevor Rogers to somehow start getting back on track, make the adjustment, get back on track. I noticed he in the clubhouse the other day, I mean, he shaved off his beard, so it’s a clean shaven Trevor Rogers, maybe that’s, you know, something that just to get a change up his luck. I don’t know, but a point is they are pitching better, obviously, on the night when you score 11 runs. I mean, it’s great to see Gunner Henderson hit two home runs. You hope that’s the start of him really getting going. Blaze Alexander, a great day at the plate, and I’ve been saying for a while now. I mean, go look at his numbers in the month of May, he swung the bat pretty well, and he’s going to defend, I mean, he’s going to play good defense for you, whether he played shortstop at one point, I mean, you can see it, he, his, his arm is absolutely suited for the left side of the infield, whether he’s playing third or short, I’m not saying he’s necessarily a phenomenal player, wherever he

Nestor Aparicio  11:05

won. Then Henderson sent one onto the Ravens walk, you know? I mean,

Luke Jones  11:08

it was a tough play, right off the bat.

Nestor Aparicio  11:12

Just amongst the players, he feels like I don’t say baseball IQ, that’s what I would have given to like Jordan Westberg, as far as being that five tool gamer, ball player, you know, team captain, awareness guy, that could be a manager later, you know, kind of, that’s the way I saw Jordan Westberg. I see Blaze Alexander as being a guy who’s just always had to work a little harder to work on every aspect of his game because he wasn’t Gunner Henderson, right, and like a lot of times that fundamental part of it shows up for Steve Pierce, for those kinds of guys, right?

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Luke Jones  11:46

Yeah, and the thing about Blaze Alexander, and you know, I’ve had a couple conversations here, I mean, it’s only been a couple months, but he’s got a personality that I think is a little infectious, and I’m not saying he becomes the clubhouse leader, I mean, you’re talking about a utility guy, you know, maybe he becomes the regular third baseman, right? I mean, but he has a little bit of a swagger to him as well, and I mean that in a positive way. I mean, he’s, you know, first of all, he comes across as a really nice guy, you know, respectful to his teammates, media, all that, but he really enjoys the game, and he does play it with confidence, and to your point, you know he’s not a former one one or anything like that, but

Nestor Aparicio  12:25

those are some of my favorite guys in baseball,

Luke Jones  12:27

dude. But he’s fundamentally, he’s a fundamentally sound player, and he’s starting to swing the bat some now. Not going to have a night like he had on Wednesday night every night. I mean, I’m not going to get crazy here, but he showed that, you know, he’s got not, not a lot of pop, but if you throw it in the wrong spot, he can hit the ball out of the ballpark. And again, you kind of look at his numbers, he’s hitting 250 now, and you know, he’s not, not a whole lot of slug, but he drove in six runs, give the guy a lot of credit, so, and he defends, and that’s the part, right? I mean, an argument I’ve made, whether we’re talking about him, whether we’re talking about Colton Cowser over some of the other outfield options, and look, I’m not going to sit here and, and say that that’s the end all be all, but when you have players who you can trust from a defensive standpoint on a team that is not good defensively, it makes me way more inclined to stick with them in the lineup than other guys who, like Tyler O’Neill, for example, who did get a hit against the lefty on Wednesday night. That was good to see. I mean, my goodness, I mean, the bar couldn’t be any lower for him right now, but, but when you’re talking about these guys that have that defensive tool, you’re more inclined to say, “Hey, even if they’re going to go over, there’s a decent chance they’re going to help us win with a couple plays in the field. And you know, I mean, that was, that was always the argument for Cal Ripken all the years, right? But the streak, even when Cal was going through a wolf, well, when

Nestor Aparicio  13:57

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Cal Ripken didn’t play, and I’m doing this, I’m doing the math on this, because I’m going to be an old guy now, for a minute, because that’s what we do here. By the way, Luke’s here, and the old guy’s here, the old Aparicio middle infielder, thoughtful guy is here. Steve Scarsoni, do you remember him? I do. I knew him from, you know, the Orioles. He was the Orioles for five minutes, involved in the Juan Bell deal, and all that I looked at his numbers and I’m thinking like Tim Hewlett, you know, I’m thinking like guys that were Jeff Rebella, right, you know, guys that fit that role, it’s such an important part on the team, dude, and it’s important part on the team, if Westberg’s on the team, and holidays here on opening day, which look again, my fire Mike Elias. I’ve said more positive things about him than negative, for the most part, other than I think he stinks as a leader, and I think he thinks as a communicator, and he’s okay, he’s a talented, I mean, like, you know, it’s fine. But I’ll give him credit when it comes to finding a deal that brings Torben Burns here or a deal that brings Blaze Alexander here, that sounds like a side deal, or Leotivarez, in the same way that Duquette had this baseball IQ to be able to find players and bring them along, or fine, even Santander’s that he hands off, or even Nestor Cortez, is at various points, but those fringe guys that get what Cano has become to some degree, some having that identification for players, but they brought him in on the basis of everything you just said about him, that if he had to play for 60 days, he wouldn’t hit 120 he won’t hit 320 but he’s not going to embarrass you, and if you had to stick him in left field for seven innings, you might be able to hide him there.

Luke Jones  15:50

Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  15:50

because you know that, you know, like if you had to, and, and, dude, by the way, they’ve had to, and they’ve, I’ve had the right fire, the general manager, they were in last place, and then all of this is made a little better by the fact that he doesn’t stink, you know. As I saw Kobe Mayo come to the plate, you know, again for the first time there, and wondering, like, you know, you’ve never really stunk anywhere you’ve been. At some point, the spigot’s going to go on and make us all look foolish. I just hope it’s not Ryan O’Hearn, and it doesn’t happen to your 29 or whatever, you know.

Luke Jones  16:23

Yeah, I mean, it’s, and it goes back to a lot of what we’ve talked about. I mean, going back a couple years now, you know, when you’re talking about some of these prospects, and look for all the hype and top 100 guys and number one farm system, and all of that. I mean, baseball is a game of failure, and for players who haven’t necessarily experienced much of that as they’re going through youth ball and little league and high school ball and college ball, if they went to college and through the minor leagues. I mean, some of these guys tasted nothing but success, relatively speaking. So, when you get to a point where you have failure. How are you going to handle that? I mean, even the very best players go through it in Major League Baseball. I mean, Aaron Judge has had slumps before, not many of them. Shohei Ohtani has had slumps before, not many of them. But how do you handle that? So, there’s been a lot of that. I can remember the summer of 24 you know, going on two years ago now. A point that I tried to make at that point, I’m not saying that it’s necessarily turned out that way, but I said it at that point that I had a hope that that was going to pay off for this group of Orioles at some point down the line. I have no idea if we’re starting to see that now. It’s been one good week of baseball, but it beats the alternative because they were very much in a position going into this home stand when you’re playing Detroit, knowing how bad the Tigers have been, and when you’re playing the Rays, knowing how good they’ve been, and then obviously we’re going to see what happens with Toronto, as the Blue Jays have been in a very similar position to the Orioles, that is trying to get back to 500 for the first time since April, but I said it, that this can go one of two ways. I mean, two extremes are possible here: one, you can have a great home stand, and you’re turning the calendar to June, and you’re not quite back to 500 but you’re in a position where you’re a great series or two away from being back at 500 which is where they are right now, or it can go the other way and suddenly your record and you’re staring at this 2025 like abyss, where mathematically it’s all but over, right? And eight games under 500 they weren’t there yet, but boy, you were starting to feel that way big time, more and more, if they didn’t start playing better. So, that said, this could be as fleeting as one week, right? If you have a bad week now, you’re right back in that same kind of position. So, the task at this point is to one, focus on the Toronto Blue Jays, and not get too ahead of yourself, or get too comfortable, or too satisfied, because you are still four games under 500 but to keep playing base, good baseball, they don’t need to go nuts here, like they’re not the difference of where they are now compared to a year ago, at this time was, and they even did it from late May into the early part of June, they won nine of 11 at one point in time. Problem is, when you fall in 18 under 500 that got them to what, 11 under? At that point, they’re still so far behind.

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Nestor Aparicio  19:34

We’re still doing segments here every day that are a death knell. All last year, dude, I’ve been doing this 35 years. People wonder why I’m so pissed off. I mean, it’s the 20th anniversary of Free the Birds coming up this September. We went through how many playoff games they’ve won in 20 years,

Luke Jones  19:52

of course not many, but the difference right now compared to where they were a year ago at this time is they can be. Steady now, right? I mean, they’re getting closer and closer to the point where you say, okay, you don’t need to necessarily rip off 13 of 15, that’d be great if you did,

Nestor Aparicio  20:08

and maybe they’re in the midst of doing that. Well,

Luke Jones  20:10

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maybe they are, but my point is, you’ve had, you’ve had a great week, right? You’ve gone five and one over the course of the last seven days, I mean, that’s great, but now you’re in a position that you don’t necessarily have to keep doing that, even, but win a series, win a series.

Nestor Aparicio  20:27

They’ve resuscitated the season since you and I got together last week, literally.

Luke Jones  20:32

And again, that’s why I was saying to you at the time, look, it’s not over yet. It, it’s feeling that way, but the math is not suggesting it’s over yet, especially when you just, I mean, look, I’m not sitting here trying to say that this team’s great. I still have my reservations big time about this team. However, however, when you consider where they are right now, they’re four under 500 Gunner Henderson, even after a two home run night, still has a 274 on base percentage. Pete Alonso, who picked up his 1,000th career hit, nice moment for him Wednesday night. He has a 744 ops, not all, but

Nestor Aparicio  21:09

Henderson get hit 385 and 12 bombs,

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Luke Jones  21:13

correct, correct. But my point is, even just looking at those two guys, and I already mentioned the rotation, we’ve talked about the injuries, when you consider how much has actually gone wrong for this team and how little has has really gone right. I mean, think about, like, okay, the bright spots: Rico Garcia, Leoti Tavares, Adley Ruchman performing the way he has. That doesn’t mean it’s a messiah

Nestor Aparicio  21:37

costing Martin a bunch of money at the Maryland lottery with home run,

Luke Jones  21:41

sure, but, but beyond that, you know, beyond that, the handful of guys we just named, you’ve got a lot of underperformance, a lot of injuries, and yet they’re four games under 500 you know, some of what I spelled out to you, if I told you that Gunner would be having a career worst season, if I told you Pete Alonso would be hitting 230 and it was even lower than that until very recently, and I told you that their starting rotation would rank either 28th or 29th in Major League Baseball, which is kind of where they’ve been hovering for a large portion of the season. You’d probably guess they’d be worse than four games under 500 so you might have even guessed worse than eight games under 500 so

Nestor Aparicio  22:21

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I would have thought my 92 win, you know, classification for them would be out of reach. I don’t even know if it’s out of reach on the rosiest of days, because I do try to think of all of these guys, including Cowser, as he’s doing the, you know, the Gatorade dance at the plate. I try to think we just said the best things about Blaze Alexander, right? Like, you know, but I don’t know that you want him to get 580 at bats,

Luke Jones  22:48

right? Well, but we’re also gonna, we’re gonna see, because right now, I mean, you know, Jordan Westburg’s not walking through the door, right? Jackson Holiday’s back, that’s great, and he’s another one of those guys where you say, look,

Nestor Aparicio  23:00

he better be good one.

Luke Jones  23:03

You’re hoping that in the big picture, but we also understand he had a handmade injury and all that, but he’s back. It seems like he’s on the other side of that. It took a while, but let’s see what he can do now. So, so we’re starting. Taylor Ward, I want to see Taylor Ward hit for some more power as the year goes on, because that is part of his profile. However, I’m also not going to scoff at the fact that even with him having cooled substantially here of late, he still has a 394 on base percentage. I mean, that’s why he’s hitting lead off. So, as much as things have gone wrong in so many ways, you do look at this team and say, okay, there’s still meat on the bone for them to get better in some various ways, and okay, Zach Efland’s not walking through that door, but Dean Kramer will be back at some point in time, right? I mean, I’m not saying it’s imminent, but there’s another option there that if you say, all right, if Trevor Rogers continues to go down this path, which you hope is not the case, if Chris Bassett continues to be very blah at best, then Dean Kramer and Trey Gibson, like, I don’t want to shortchange the kid, they’ve got some alternatives here that they can work into the mix. Ryan Helsley’s throwing, I think mid-June is probably a realistic target for him right now, he’s going to need a little bit of a rehab assignment at this point, but you get him back, then you can slot Rico Garcia differently, right? You can deploy Anthony Nunez. Sorry, I think I said decently differently, but you’re in a position where you have more options now. Unfortunately, Cano leaves with hamstring tightness on Wednesday night, there’s a reminder of another thing that needs to happen for this team. They’ve got to maintain some semblance of better health, not saying they’re going to stay healthy the rest of the way, that’s not realistic, but can it normalize, and they’re not continue, they’re not continuing to be hammered by injuries, that’s going to. Have to happen if this team’s going to be anything close to what we thought they could be going into the seasons. I

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Nestor Aparicio  25:07

keep thinking, you know, Fourth of July, all-star games in Philly, you know, trading deadline, you know, training camp for the Ravens. Sure, could they play a game in September? I mean, the Ravens start the season so late, like later than ever in the history of ever, like September 13, like man, if your season’s still alive on September 13, they’ve done something from being eight games under 500 and from being the team we’ve talked about with all the injury problems, fire the general manager, last play swept here, swept there, swept everywhere, like if they get up and crawl here a little bit, it’ll be because of Henderson and Holiday and Alonzo and Ruchman continuing, and and

Luke Jones  25:55

let me give you another factor here that we haven’t talked about a whole lot, because you hear me talk a lot about, you know, very much marginalizing what a field manager and a coaching staff do in baseball in 2026 not just specifically for the Orioles, but just in general. But you do have to acknowledge it’s, you know, not on the pitching side, but on the hitting side, and the rest of the staff, it is a new manager and a coaching, a new coaching staff, so are they starting to gel a little bit more? I mean, I know one thing, and look, this isn’t this isn’t as dynamic a change as thinking about the movie Major League, and you’ve got the owner, and they’re, you know, they’re peeling off the pieces of the drafts and all that, like it’s not anything like that, but Greg Albernaz recently, you know, I even asked him about, you know, how do you balance the analytics, the nuts and bolts of teaching, hitting, and everything else that’s going on in terms of advanced meetings and all that with the human element and understanding that players learn differently, players process information differently. One change I do know they made from the past is they’re now instead of when they start a series and having a full, a full group hitters meeting to go over advanced numbers and all that, they’ve now decided to individualize that, where they actually have more small group, more individualized settings, which I think it’s interesting. I like anything I can hear about this team making adjustments behind the scenes based on how the last couple years have gone, whether we’re talking about the manager, the coaching staff, analytics department, what’s going on down on the farm down below. I like seeing some acknowledgement of, hey, we need to do some things differently now. Has that shown up in the way of wins and losses to this point. Well, not yet. That doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to, because you got to make the right adjustments, right? You can change a bunch of things, but you don’t want to change it.

Nestor Aparicio  27:50

Isn’t that the Sigma Dell mindset, right?

Luke Jones  27:53

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Oh, I mean, it’s in a big picture sense. Yeah, but I think you know

Nestor Aparicio  27:57

this isn’t working. We need to do, we need to change it

Luke Jones  27:59

exactly. So, you know the fact that they’re doing more individualized meetings with hitters, and you know it’s a different way of processing information. I mean, you know anyone who’s been a teacher before, you know, on a simplistic level, you can have whole group learning where you’re lecturing or teaching a lesson to a group of however many, you know, whether you’re talking about a college-sized course or you know 20 kids in an elementary school classroom, or you can have small group, or you can have individual one on one. They’ve, they’ve decided to go more individualized with that, and maybe we’re going to see that start paying off a little bit more consistently. So we’re going to see, right, we’ve talked about this, and you and I are going to do a Raven segment, you know, right after we’re finished talking about this, but we’ve talked about it with Jesse Minter and Declan Doyle and the rest of the coaching staff that doesn’t have a ton of experience when you look at some of the most prominent, you know, Anthony Levine, a special teams coordinator for the first time in his career, so there is a lot of new to navigate, I mean, you have the Orioles, right or wrong, decided to go with a rookie manager, right, as highly as Craig Albernaz was thought of around baseball. He was not someone who had managed in the major leagues before, so he now has two months under his belt in terms of knowing what makes players tick, knowing what might work, what hasn’t worked for this team, so you know I’m not saying all this to make to assure that everything is fine. I don’t know that right at this point. I still feel like my 90 win prediction is still on the high side compared to what they’re probably actually going to be. That said, after the last week I’m feeling more confident that they’re at least going to be playing meaningful baseball into the summer, and maybe hit for no other reason than the American League’s really mediocre beyond the Rays and the Yankees, but that’s the system we have. It’s a three wild card system, and I will say this: I am not going to sit here. And endorse any kind of thinking at this point in my life, after having watched a long-term rebuild, and it was good then for about two years before it went off the rails again. I’m not going to sit here and say, well, well, they should lose, because that means they’re going to fire Michaelias, and no, like, if you can have a chance to play October baseball, Arizona was a perfect example. Three years ago, they snuck into the playoffs, and they wind up in the World Series. The Phillies did a very similar thing the year before that. I mean, heck, the Phillies had fired their manager that year and brought in a new manager, and maybe they’re going to do the same thing this year, the way that the Phillies are playing over the last three weeks or so. So, point is, there’s a lot of baseball left. I mean, still over 100 games that can go a lot of different directions. This could be the turning point, and maybe three months from now, we’re saying, man, think back to Cowser’s back-to-back walk-offs. I mean, how big was that? How much was that a turning point? I mean, not going to sit here and be overly dramatic, but you know, you think about some of the turning points in various seasons in Orioles’ history, right? You’re hoping that maybe that was the start of something, or this week is all it is, a good week, because just about any team in baseball’s going to have a good week, if not a great week, at some point in time, and maybe they’ll settle back into being the team that, well, we feared that they were over the first two months. I don’t know, but I’ll take this, and I’ll take the curiosity now, moving forward to see if all those different things that we mentioned have gone wrong can start going in a better direction. Like I said, can Gunner Henderson, you know that two homer game on Wednesday night springboard him into looking like the Gunner Henderson of a couple years ago for the next six weeks. Feet Alonzo looking more like the polar bear with the New York Mets over the next six weeks. They’re starting pitching continuing to look better, right? It’s not going to be elite, it’s not going to be a top five kind of group, but it can be better than it’s been. So, if you start doing those things, and you start doing the little things better, play cleaner baseball, make the plays you’re supposed to make, don’t get picked off on the base paths, those types of things, you know. Make good swing decisions, take your walks when the offense is affording, or the defense is affording them to you, make the defense pay for making their own errors, as the Orioles did against the Rays in this series. You know, six unearned runs in Tuesday night’s win. If you can start doing those things, that’s when you look up at the standings and it starts to steadily look better and better. So we’ll find out they have to keep building on it. They still have a long way to go for me, you know, just to get back to 500 They still have some real work to do, let alone making anyone believe that they’re going to be a force the rest of the way. But they are playing better, and again, based on how we were talking just a week ago, I will gladly take that. I will gladly put the Michaelias discourse on the back burner, at least for a couple weeks here, because, as I said to you, there’s nothing worse than having four months of meaningless baseball, where all you’re talking about that matters is what’s going to happen with the general manager, what’s going to happen with the coaching staff, what’s going to happen with this, what’s going to happen with that? Who are they trading at the trade deadline? Right, I’d much prefer this team to be interesting and relevant into the summer, and then who knows, maybe we are talking about them still having a chance to play meaningful baseball in September, and if they can take advantage, playing in October, still a long, long way to go, and suddenly that’s a good thing, rather than saying, ‘Oh my gosh, they still have 100 games to go, which was all we were saying this time last year.

Nestor Aparicio  33:51

Luke Jones is here, we’re talking Oriole baseball. If you’re on the WNSD tech service, any breaking news, people coming, going, injuries, any of that, you know, we heard about that, you’ll get it’s all brought to you by Cole Roofing and Gordian Energy. It’s very easy to sign up. Just last thing on the Fire Michaelias train, and who’s making the decisions, and who isn’t, and all of that one thing for me, above and beyond all that we’ve mentioned, holiday blossoming, Henderson being Henderson, Ruchman staying Ruchman, Alonzo, earning money, although he’s hit a lot of home runs, and you know, to your point, Taylor Ward’s going to hit home runs, might not walk 200 times, but we’ll see Tyler O’Neill, Chris Bassett, the guys he’s given a lot of money to, Helsley, you know, people that we haven’t, they have not been at all key contributors for the investment. You could say what you want about Alonso, but he’s been there playing every night, right? Sure, so you know that’s part of it, but you know there is a point where I just mentioned loosely $60 million a ballplayer, right? Like, so you’d like to think that there could be some. Level of performance out of them when the opportunity gives its chance and effort, Bass, that’ll be every fifth day.

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Luke Jones  35:07

Yeah, I mean it’s they need, they absolutely need guys to pick it up, right? I mean, not everyone’s going to be the star, and you know, I, I’ve, I’ve talked a lot more about Gunner Henderson and Pete Alonso, because heavy is the crown, right? When you’re regarded as this organization’s aircraft carrier, like Gunner Henderson is, or if you’ve been awarded a 150 plus million dollar contract, like Pete Alonso, expectations aren’t going to be greater. And I think they’re.. I think they both are very aware of that, right? I.. I think Pete Alonso be the first to tell you that, yeah, I’ve played really well defensively, and I’ve shown leadership, and I’ve hit a few home runs, but yeah, I need to be way more consistent at the plate. I understand that, but yeah, they need everyone on this roster, right, that is making real money, or what have you, to start picking it up. I mean, I feel better about Basset than I do Tyler O’Neill. Get to O’Neill in a moment, but in Basset’s case, you know, they’ve started to use the opener thing with him a little bit. I think that’s been interesting. I think both times they’ve used an opener with him. You go back to that A’s game that they did win, he pitched really well, six innings of one run ball in that game, his I say, start, it’s not a start, it’s a bulk, you know, long relief, whatever you want to call it. But they did that against the Tigers on Friday night. He wasn’t great, but three runs in four and a third innings, he pitched well enough, right? It was at least, oh my gosh, he lost them in the game. It wasn’t that, you know, it was he got them to the late innings, it would have, could have been better, that’s for sure. So that’s where I am with Bassett. He needs to be better, and he’d be the first to tell you that, but he hasn’t been so bad, where, where I’m kind of on watch of him being out of the rotation in the way that, frankly, Trevor Rogers is right. It

Nestor Aparicio  36:58

makes it even worse if you’re going to stink and be a five or six every time out, right? Like, literally, of

Luke Jones  37:05

course, they need better, you

Nestor Aparicio  37:06

8

know, they’re they’re nice, you need to look, they’re just, if you go out every time and give me five and a third, three, that’s not a great ERA, but that feels better to me than you’re in the second inning and it’s five or six,

Luke Jones  37:21

right, and he hasn’t had outings like that of late, right? His outings have, haven’t been even

Nestor Aparicio  37:28

more 1201, more

Luke Jones  37:30

functional, more functional, right? I mean, I’ve used the term functional with this starting rotation a lot in recent years, where you know, just be functional, so you know, Trevor Rogers, I mean, he’s got to be better. I mean, he has to be right. That doesn’t mean he’s going to be the guy he was last year, but he has to be a bit better version, because he’s, he’s the guy right now. If he continues to pitch the way he is,

8

Nestor Aparicio  37:52

you got to send him out to get straightened

Luke Jones  37:53

out. You’re going to have to do, you know, I Austin bullpen, whatever, and try to get him straighten out, especially when you have Trey Gibson doing what he’s done in his limited opportunity. When you have Dean Kramer, who will be coming back at some point, you know you’re not

Nestor Aparicio  38:07

moving Brandon Young now, right?

Luke Jones  38:09

8

I mean, not for, not for right now. I mean, he’s doing a nice job. I mean, you know, you certainly want to reward good results. So, on the hitting side, Tyler O’Neill, I know he got a hit against the lefty on Wednesday night. I mean, good for him, but I’m he’s got a – they’re going to have a decision with him. I mean, at some point here, and maybe it’s not until Dylan Bieber’s is ready to come off the IL, but he’s just not giving you anything. I mean, he’s.. he was signed, you know. They gave him that 49 and a half million dollar contract. It’s

Nestor Aparicio  38:48

unbelievable,

Luke Jones  38:49

ruinous lefties, and he just.. he hasn’t hit lefties at all. I mean, Samuel Bisayo has more hits against lefties than than Tyler O’Neill does, right? So they are for me, I’m very much in a late stage Chris Davis kind of place with Tyler O’Neill right now, where I say, well,

Nestor Aparicio  39:08

sunk cost,

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Luke Jones  39:09

you’re getting closer and closer to that. I’m not right, I’m not saying release him today, but I’m at a point where I,

Nestor Aparicio  39:16

how much you’re going to play him, and where do you play? You know, it’s like Mayo, how many at bats, do you give guys that aren’t producing at a big league up? We had that with Ruchman for a period of time, sort of like, come on, dude, you’re really gonna be allowed to hit 160 for like,

Luke Jones  39:31

sure, I mean, but Ruch, I mean, Ruchman was never in a place where you weren’t going to play him, right, because at the very least, you know, he’s still your catcher, you got to let him play himself out of it, but in the case of Tyler O’Neill. I’m at a point where I’m inclined to not play him. Continue to work behind the scenes for right now, see if you can get him to a place where the hitting coaches are starting to say, ‘Hey, that’s starting to look better. And okay, we’ve got a lefty, you know, we’re facing a lefty tonight or tomorrow or Tuesday or. Whatever, we’re going to give you a couple at bats and see how it goes. Now, he played Wednesday night, he got a base hit, right? He almost hit a grand slam at one point, you know, hit a hit, a foul ball down to the left field line, that would have been a home run, that doesn’t count, but I like what it looks like from a process standpoint, at the very least. So, but he’s got to start performing, because one thing that I know you and I have talked about, I know I’ve talked about with a number of other people, is you know, you can play the platoon advantage if you’ve got guys that actually can do it right, you can’t keep saying, well, Tyler O’Neill, he’s our guy that’s going to play against lefties if he never hits lefties, right, because what else is he offering you? He’s not the Gold Glove defender that he was in St. Louis six years ago. He’s got a good arm still, but he’s not going to defend in a way like Colton Kauser will, for example. So, I don’t know, man. I mean, it’s.. it’s been a long time since he’s, I mean, other than a couple fleeting stretches last year, I mean, they just.. this has been an awful signing, you know. For, for as much as we can look at Mike Elias’s body of work, in terms of what he’s done since they opened their competitive window in 22 and 23 I mean, the O’Neill signing is easily the worst thing that Elias has done. I mean, it’s been an absolute disaster for what he’s been making, compared to, you know, so at some point in time, yeah. And I don’t think that point in time is not too long from now, quite frankly. At some point, if he doesn’t start showing real meaningful improvement, you’ve got to chalk this up to a sunk cost, and like I said, maybe it’s when Dylan Beavers is ready to come back. It sounds like Beaver’s starting to swing the bat now, you know, with that oblique injury. So, it sounds like maybe he won’t be too far away, maybe a couple more weeks, but you know, there’s one where I just look at it and say, okay, I get it, he’s only 30 years old, but consider his injury history. Tyler O’Neill is probably a much older 30 than your typical 30 year old, who hasn’t been on the IL, what is it, 18 different times, or whatever he has in his career. I mean, you know, we know his injury history, so, but you know that they don’t need Tyler. Let me rephrase this. This team as a whole does is it’s not necessarily disqualifier for them to get where they want to go as a playoff contender if Tyler O’Neill never hits, but if he never hits, he can’t continue to be on this roster, right? At some point in time, you’re just gonna have to say it’s over. Sorry, man, enjoy your money, we, you know, nothing personal, but this just has not worked out whatsoever. So it feels like they’re not, they’re getting closer and closer to that point, but you know, he had a had a hit off a lefty Wednesday night. Great, he needs many more of those if you’re going to keep him on the roster, let alone play him on any kind of a regular basis, and we’re seeing signs of that. I mean, like Monday, for example, he hit ninth in the order, that’s not a space that he had occupied for the Orioles before. So, there’s at least some acknowledgement of, come on, man, like clock’s ticking, like we, we need you to start producing if you’re going to continue to be on this ball club, so I have way less confidence in him getting right than some of the other factors that I mentioned, whether we’re talking about a Bassett, whether we’re talking about Rogers, just if we’re

Nestor Aparicio  43:31

8

talking about decisions that are going to be made that are going to have some finality to them, pitchers are going to come and go up and down, there’s nobody else on the team that’s played their way off the team, I mean, Mayo, maybe, right? Like, at some point you could have made that case, the pitchers make the cases for themselves, right? I mean, and hey, you know, Rogers isn’t far behind, right?

Luke Jones  43:54

He’s got to be better, has to be better. I mean, like, you can’t, like I said, there’s Bassett, who has, you know, an ERA five four or five five, you know, somewhere in that neighborhood, off the top of my head, but you know, Rogers, you know, you can’t have a six plus ERA, I mean, that that doesn’t work, like you know, you can talk about last year, but they’re most of his starts of late, he’s not even given them a chance, so he’s got to be better, I mean, he just has to be if he’s going to continue to be in the rotation, so, so you know they’re working their way through that, but three names, like I said, to kind of look at here over the next, you know, three, four weeks, as far as guys I’m looking to come back, Helsley, which certainly would make your bullpen that much better, Dylan Beavers, because you know that kind of factors into where’s Cowser, where’s Tyler O’Neill, right? So that can help the outfield picture, and Dean Kramer, right? I mean, they’ve missed Dean Kramer, there’s no doubt, I mean, he’s not, we know he’s not an ace or number two or number three, but he’s another steady performer that you can add to the mix and. As I said, you know, that puts more pressure on Basset and puts way more pressure on Trevor Rogers to say, “Hey, you know, Dean Kramer is going to be back at some point. Trey Gibson is acquitting himself pretty well, like, you know, I’m not going to just give him a rotation spot today, but he’s showing someone that’s earned opportunities moving forward, if other guys are going to get hurt or not get the job done. So it’s good to have options. It’s good to have some alternatives that you can talk about. So, yeah, some of those guys that have underperformed, they’ve got to pick it up. There’s no doubt, or they need to get out of the way and let someone else try.

Nestor Aparicio  45:34

All right, he is Luke Jones. I am Nestor. We’re going to be at the ballpark all weekend. Luke will be around. The Blue Jays will be around, not just driving my cat nuts outside the windows of our place here. Time I see a blue jay, I yell Joe Carter or Dave Stieb at them. It’s a whole new brand of blue jays, not even Cedo Gaston anymore. Can’t even yell at him anymore. Uh, Luke will be at the ballpark. He was at Raven’s camp when Lamar Jackson spoke, as well as Jesse Minter. Get used to hearing his voice driving around AM 1570 I’ll put Nestor on. You put on, you hear the strange voice. Oh, that’s Jesse Minter. It’s not as recognizable as Albanaz, so you know when you hear him, you sort of know who it is. The Minter thing, I’m still working on that Lamar’s voice we have, and as my wife predicted over morning coffee, he loves the Ravens, and he’s here for life. He’s just like me and Luke. He’s well, Luke’s in Pennsylvania. He’s gonna vote differently next month. He’s Luke. I’m Nestor. We’re WNST. We’re Baltimore Positive. Stay with us.