A massive weekend ahead for the Baltimore Orioles host the San Diego Padres and Mike Elias searches to improve the pitching arsenal for a first-place team that can win the World Series. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the unrest associated with the MLB trading deadline for all parties concerned – including nervous and antsy players who know they could be tapped on the shoulder.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
orioles, dealt, team, moves, week, playing, bullpen, game, point, trade deadline, day, trade, players, prospects, starter, baseball, weekend, elias, feel, kimbrel
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home we are W and S t test Baltimore and Baltimore positive yeah I’m wearing my Costas in gear because that was a Costas in the aftermath of Thursday afternoons Miami. Miracle I don’t know what you will have other names for it i i saw Frank Reich and you know of any test of already do other things down there over the course of time but our friends at the Maryland lottery putting us out on the road the gold rush at sevens doublers we will not be at state fair on the 13th with Angele also Brooks we are rescheduling that says we’ll never be know that but whilst we’re getting it out, we got like seven crabcake tours in and around what the opening day of football will be so right around Labor Day so stay with us. We’ll be doing it for Jiffy Lube multi care went to Jiffy Lube live last week install a Sammy Hagar so took my picture with my Jiffy Lube selfie down there if you’re going down for any shows, also our friends at Liberty pure solutions keeping our water crystal clear. Luke Jones joins us now to discuss whatever that was in Miami, I mean, you know I put this out on the web and you know I have fun with my belt buckles my rock’n’roll belt buckles, I get to wear my REO Speedwagon belt buckle, but I use an Aerosmith align living on the edge. Dude, they are really scuffling a little bit weird stuffs happening in the bolt this weird stuff everywhere and whatever this shot in the arm we’re all looking for by 6pm on Monday or whatever it is. They better get that
Luke Jones 01:34
well, they need to start playing better there Scotland a lot. I’m not gonna say a little bit deaf Scotland a lot. They’ve played bad baseball for a month now. Let’s call it what it is. It doesn’t mean the season’s over. Doesn’t mean Luke Jones thinks that will real stink overall. But let’s call it what it is. They have not played very well for about a month now. And you need to look no further than Brandon Hyde’s postgame press conference on a nightly basis at this point. He’s not really sugarcoating it. Now, he’s not going to call out individual players or throw guys under the bus per se. But you can tell he’s frustrated with what he’s watching. And understandably so. Although, even on as we’re talking about Thursday afternoons game, I kind of questioned some of the bended aerial decisions, you know, for example, why isn’t James McCann bunting in the top of the ninth inning, and I know they had a three run lead and all of that. But I mean, it’s just everything just feels off. And as much as the first seven innings of Thursday’s game felt one, and they had a six, jump out to a six, nothing lead and even Couser is coming back to life. Right? Sure, sure. And look, I mean, it was good to see and they won. And that was much better than the alternative. But when you have a final couple innings with your bullpen with your defense with some managerial decisions that were or were not made, I mean, you just kind of scratch your head. And obviously they you know, they go they take the lead, retake the lead and the top of the 10th. And then they get two guys thrown out on the same exact play. I mean, it’s just like, it was an African frustration.
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:13
It really was right, like, and they don’t, I’ll say this, I went to cost this in the aftermath and five people at the bar. I mean, Nick was specifically there was a level of sort of frustration. And I’m like, It’s July I can’t get that frustrated. But I think in the moment, the ninth and 10th inning, you’re like, but look, I’ve seen so much bad baseball, I don’t mean to be a jerk, but I’ve seen so much bad baseball that blowing a game here and again, in some sort of tripping around third base and falling down like kind of what was that guy’s name? Jack? Come on, give me his name. Jack cost, right. You know, those those slapstick horrific moments that never defined to 72 Win team or whatever? When they start playing like that when mistakes start happening and when they are frustrated us much over to you know what I mean? Like you have gone to bed angry or like some night starters not good enough. You get beat whatever close game Yankees beat you, you lose. Like, I just sent over the last month this frustration because you feel like they’re better than that. Like, if the Ravens lose three in a row in October, you’d be like, come on, you guys are better than this, you know? Yeah. And
Luke Jones 04:25
that’s really where it comes from. I mean, in 2019 and 2021. You shrug your shoulders. Now like you said, there might be some comedic moments where you’re kind of scratching your head or embarrassing moments because it’s just like, alright, that’s, that’s gonna make MLB Network and Sports Center and you don’t want to be on MLB Network and Sports Center for that reason.
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:48
So like 33 As an example, right? Sure, sure, of course, the years you know what I mean? They had a lot of that. And now it’s it’s just every game matters to the fans and obviously you start to look at the standard Seeing like, teams are kind of getting back into some level of comfort that they’re not running away and hiding the way. We thought they were going to Intune you know what I mean? Like, we kind of thought like, they’re they’re the best team and they played like it and have and right now we can’t say that and that’s fresh. I’ll go back frustration is the word I’m I’m sensing from the fan base and you’re from the Padres often no hitter.
Luke Jones 05:22
Yeah, that said, I mean, I don’t disagree with that overall sentiment. But who is the best team? Because the saving grace about this last month is the Yankees been even worse. Cleveland who has been so good in the Al Central? They haven’t been gravely and they have the same record as the Orioles going into this weekend series against the padres, the ALS okay, I get it. The Astros have surged. But they had to do a heck of a lot of surging just to get to the point where they’re what three or four or five games over 500. Right. Because they were so terrible the first couple months of the season. So I mean, as it stands right now, as we’re entering this weekend series with the padres, you don’t have a single team in the American League playing 600 Baseball now. That’s not out of the question. I mean, you don’t have guaranteed 100 Win teams in the ACL every single year. But it does speak to no one running away with it, including the Orioles. So the saving grace is yeah, the Yankees have been even worse. Boston has cooled off here. You know, there was a lot of talk about the Red Sox and how they were playing before the all star break since the break, you know, it hasn’t been quite as good for them. So they’ve come back to Earth, the race, I mean, they traded Randy arozarena to the Mariners and I assume they’re gonna sell off some other players. And we’ve talked about that maybe maybe there’s an opportunity there for the Orioles to acquire something that to help them in the right deal in Toronto has been a disaster all year. So you look around the landscape of the league. And this is where as frustrating as it has been. And, you know, you have a wide range of people saying, you know, some people as extreme as the season is over which come on, come on. We We can’t lose our heads entirely here. But on the flip side,
Nestor J. Aparicio 07:08
don’t take phone calls here anymore. Sure. Well, look it. Yeah, I don’t know.
Luke Jones 07:13
I mean, you know, just what it’s every fan base is like that every fan base has that. But on the flip side, we’re not going to also ignore the fact that they haven’t played well for about a month now. And it’s been ugly, it hasn’t been like unlucky. One run losses and things of that nature. It’s been, they’ve been blown out a good bit, too. I mean, I looked at it going into Thursday, they had that they were 11 and 16, over 27 games stretch now 12 and 16. After the win, that’s the record since the series went in the Bronx a little over a month ago. But they have in that stretch that nine losses of four or more runs. I mean, you know, they have a minus 39 Run differential over those 28 games. I mean, that’s, you know, you look at that pace, that’s a 90 plus lost pace for about a sixth of the season. Now, you know, a sixth of the total Season of Game, so doesn’t mean that
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:08
the team and makes it a 590 team pretty quickly, right? Yeah, it doesn’t
Luke Jones 08:12
mean that this is who they are. Now, I think we all would agree, even if they weren’t to make any moves at the trade deadline, third better than what they’ve played over the last three, four weeks. That said, if you want to get back to a point where you’re playing closer to 100, win baseball, and I’ll say it over and over again, the objective is not to win 100 games, right? We saw last year that the Orioles won 101 And that did nothing for them in October. So it’s not about that. But you do want to win the division, you do want to put yourself in a position where you’re hosting and having home field advantage in the postseason, as much as possible. And you’ve got to get back on track to do that. So we’re gonna see how this plays out. It feels like as we’re entering the weekend, the trade market is starting to move. In fact, AJ puck who shut the Orioles down pretty definitively in that Marlin series. He goes to Arizona. So there’s another move. And you know, the simple reality and this is just more of the 30,000 foot look. Not even in terms of okay, who who should they give up for player A, who should they give up for player B? The simple reality is, Mike Elias has the ability, the capability of beating any deal that’s made out there other than if we’re talking about taking on salary and then that goes more with ownership and Rubinstein and what the payroll is going to go look like. And that’s a mystery
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:39
and by the way to plug all the other things I’ve done this week. That’s why I’ve talked to Kurt Baden house and that’s why I’ve talked to Eric Fisher that’s why I’ve had Mari brown on I’ve gone to the best people I know and all star team literally to discuss money finance, baseball, Katie Griggs, how all of this plays in to why you don’t give Kobe Mayo away and why you don’t love Anthony to Santander. Why do you don’t keep those guys around? And how Randy Rosa? Brainer winds up on a trade deadline blocked $2 billion next year do they want to do something else with that money anyway, let the next guy come up. And hopefully you haven’t the next seat. So that’s for besides to this weekend. That’s for Kobe Mayo for O’Hearn and mountcastle. And Santander as well as Hayes and Mullins who don’t know what their value is. Somebody said to me, Couser doesn’t have any value. Somebody said that this week? And I’m like, I don’t know. I mean, I but I don’t know, were you in a trade, how the Tigers or the White Sox would look at him. And it was something and I leave this let you go on and on and deal with seats, because you’re gonna do trading deadline stuff. And that’s cool. It’s weird, though, when they’re losing, like, just want to talk about the team, the team, the team, but like the trading deadline thing is above and beyond Manny Machado or floppy hat night or you know whether the Padres are wearing camo gear this weekend or wearing those those whatever those suits are that birthday cake suits that they were around more than that the trading deadline thing and the money that goes with it and the future and so much is going to come into play. Maybe by the time you and I get together again over the weekend, you know,
Luke Jones 11:19
no question about it. Just a side note, people need to start looking at Colton Couser a little more carefully. He’s better than what people were making them out to be. I think there are 29 other teams, maybe not 29 Because you know, there are a couple teams that might have a little more of a loaded outfield. He’s a very valuable player, as he currently stands, is a valuable player. He might be not might he definitely is at least their second best outfielder and if you look at it from a metric standpoint, could be their best outfielder
Nestor J. Aparicio 11:55
if you judge him based just on his lines over the last 90 days. He’s a depressed asset right now, which is by the way what Kurt Baden housing called the orals at 1,000,000,008
Luke Jones 12:04
Yeah, I still think people are missing the boat on Colton Couser look. This is not to say he’s the next Ken Griffey Jr. or anything crazy like that. He’s a valuable player, though. He’s been a he’s a valuable player right now. Go look at what his OBS is compared to what Adley rutschman is right now, after Adley rutschman has been awful over the last month. It’s their neck and neck. So anyway, that’s just a rant because I think a lot of people are looking at batting average and strikeouts and they’re not looking at the whole picture with someone who my point is he’s a lot better even as he currently plays a lot better than people giving them credit and, you know, the Orioles aren’t gonna give them up for a song. And, you know, this goes into what I was getting ready to say but you know, Connor Norby gets recalled. We know Matteo is out and definitely Jorge Mateo. His skill set definitely hurts if he’s going to be out long term in terms of wanting this his speed off the bench is defense to backup shortstop if Gunnar Henderson gets the flu or Gunnar Henderson turns an ankle and estimates a few days. But with Connor Norby, it’s another example. If your name isn’t Kobe male, Sammy will beside and of course, Jackson Holliday. There’s almost this perception that I would even say not even so much other teams, even Orioles fans themselves, kind of view them as inferior guys, kind of normies a heck of a prospect kind of normies kind of guy that you’re not trading away for nothing. And this goes back to my overall point about the trade deadline that, you know, so many people are saying, Oh, well, they gotta trade may or they’ve got to trade the SEO or, yeah, I would trade Jackson holiday for tech school. And, you know, it’s just people have to pump the brakes about that. And that doesn’t mean you don’t you don’t entertain the idea whatsoever. But they have a lot of other really attractive prospects. And you’re going to see a lot of teams that make trades that don’t involve the Orioles are going to trade prospects for players that the Orioles you would say the Orioles might covet or the Orioles could use that guy. And they’re going to trade them for prospects that are lesser than even the Orioles second tier guys. So one that means yes, the Orioles have the capability of making just about any move they want. But again, that doesn’t mean that you just overpaid just for the sake of doing it. That doesn’t mean you just give away surplus value. Because well, we have a lot of prospects. So let’s just get rid of all of them because we need to make moves to help us in 2024. So there’s nuance to this and moving parts
Nestor J. Aparicio 14:35
in regards to their rotation next year in regard to depth at the organization. And again, this goes back to Ozzy and Eric on draft day again, who they really like and don’t like and how much they liked them and who’s touchable and untouchable and who you know how they really feel about cows towers upside or counter normies upside or besides. I mean they love all their prospects, right? But then when they start dealing them away, you’ll be like, well, we’re T They just didn’t see it here. They weren’t feeling it here with Westberg Norby Hendra, like all of those people in those middle infield positions to sort of like, we have surplus, they have surplus everywhere to your point, and how they give it away to say, they really like Holden Couser. And they’re just not gonna make him available as a throw in for school bowl, even though that might be what you have to do to make that happen. And they’d say, Well, can we play Hayes Molins and win win a World Series with him this year? And how will we feel about that later, there’s just going to be a lot of feelings hurt if they make the kinds of deals fans want them to make? Because names somebody’s name, we just said it’s not gonna be here on Tuesday. Sure,
Luke Jones 15:45
sure. No question about it. I mean, even if it’s some prospects that are the second or third tier they’re still guys that you and I don’t necessarily talk about on a regular basis but the fan base that had nothing but but the farm system to pay attention to a prior to 2022 It’s gonna be some there gonna be some guys moved. And you know, your point about joey Ortiz, what they’d like Joey Ortiz, but Gunnar Henderson’s better. They thought Jordan Westbrook was better they Yeah. And look, I mean, that’s still to be determined, right? I mean, whether Jordan Westberg Joey Ortiz, who’s better five years from now, the point was he was blocked and he was someone that they use to land an ace, an AC pitched well, again on Thursday and a su, for all the talk about this specific October and this specific Ron. I mean, he’s as important as anyone to Dad obviously. So you know, I mean, it’s just I but I will continue to say until I’m proven different. Until Mike Mike Elias proves otherwise. I’m still not expecting them to trade a bunch of prospects here because yeah, well meaning trade their top guys, because I just don’t think that they’re going to be so nearsighted to say, Okay, it’s all about 2024 And then we’ll figure it out because you start trading Heston Karstadt and Colton Couser and then it’s like, Alright, you’re what you’re going to resign Cedric Mullins, what you’re going to resign Austin, Hays, those aren’t the kind of players as they’re currently valued as they’re currently producing our guys that you’re keeping long term. So then what’s your outfield going to look like in the next couple years? So there’s still the long term planning piece Mike Elias is not going to deviate from that. I mean, I I’ll continue to say that and no, that doesn’t mean I’m sitting here saying they’re not going to make any moves. They’re gonna make moves. I’d be stunned if they’re not making at least a couple of moves here to add some pitching and, boy looking at son or at Thursday afternoon again, I’m going to continue to bang the table bullpen. bullpen bullpen? I’m still more concerned about the bullpen than adding another starting pitcher. I’ll continue to say that and yes, I want them to add another starting pitcher. But you go out and get Tarik school but then you only make one decent but unremarkable addition to the bullpen. I’m still going to sit here saying I don’t think their bullpen is going to get them. Let’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:08
go bullpen it’s a great day to do that. Luke’s here. He’s Baltimore Luke, you can find them out on the interwebs. He will be at the ballpark. He’s been running around with the Ravens trying to get a suntan through the clouds and all that stuff. The Kimbrell thing, you’re never the one that jumped. I mean, you know, a week and a half ago, were praising him. And, you know, when the team’s scuffling a lot of times, you know, the closer could be in the middle of that, especially in close ballgames. We’re being counted on five nights a week to win games, right? Where are you on the Kimbrel thing? I mean, I think we’ve always been relatively weirdly lukewarm about IT era him as the guy or the closer, or, as you said, piece a part of what needs to happen. And when he’s not. And the eighth inning guys, the ninth inning guy in the seventh inning, guys, the eighth inning guy not even sure he’s the eighth inning guy and we go on and on and on, guys start getting hurt. The last thing they need is to be squandering games. They’re actually winning in the seventh inning loop.
Luke Jones 19:09
Yeah, and but I’ll be honest with you, I’m still more concerned about getting to the ninth inning. And that doesn’t mean that I have full confidence in Craig Kimbrel. I’ve been I’ve been telling you since spring training that I still think Craig Kimbrel is not first of all, he’s not Felix Batista, and everyone knew that from the moment they signed him. There wasn’t a Felix Batista, the acquirer at that point in time. And now even the one guy that was out in the market that looked like he might be Felix Batista, Mason, Miller, just on his non pitching hand, slammed a table and broke his pinky. So he’s on the aisle. That doesn’t mean he’s out for the year. But there you go. Now, is he even going to be dealt? Right? So but my point with Craig Kimbrel is, and I’ve said this over and over, look, he he’s still way more good than not. He’s still someone that you can For us to close a lot of games in the ninth inning, but and let’s be clear Thursday, we’d be remiss if we said that was all on Craig Kimbrel mean Gunnar Henderson makes an error. Counter Norby stumbles on a ball that they could have gotten out on. I mean, you I don’t care if it’s the Miami Marlins or the Yankees or the Dodgers, you can’t give a team extra hits in the ninth inning, but it’s a close game. I mean, I mean, you’re that you’re begging for disaster there. So it wasn’t all Kimbrel. But for me, I’ll continue to go back to look at the postseason the last few years. Look at the World Series teams the last couple years. Go through every single game of the postseason and look how many bullpen arms they’re using. Yes, that includes the Phillies who have Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola and Ranger Suarez. Yes, that includes going back to the Braves a couple a couple years ago. Yes, that includes the Astros, who had dusty Baker and old school manager who wasn’t necessarily pulling his starters immediately but they still used a ton of bullpen arm. So for as much focus as there is on the rotation and adding an upgrade for Dean Kramer as the number three starter and I’m fully on board for that. But you better go and add a couple bullpen arms because who do you trust right now in this bullpen? I actually I still trust Craig Kimbrel to a degree, right? This isn’t like him losing his closers job or something like that. But is he so locked down that if you’re playing so many one run games in October? Or forget about October? How about just August in September, if you’re playing a ton of one run games, is he gonna be able to close out all of those in the way that it felt like Batista could last year until his elbow went up in late August. You need another high leverage guy. And when I say another high leverage guy, either at some other teams closer, or someone that has the kind of arm that kind of stuff that kind of make up that you say, yeah, that guy’s gonna close some games to you know, Kimbrel is not being demoted, but we’re gonna have a one in one a. And I feel like they need that. And I frankly I feel like they need another arm that they can slot in there somewhere in the Jacob Webb Junior Cano category where a seventh seventh inning guy who can also pitch the eighth inning sometimes so point is I’m telling you they need one really high leverage reliever and another guy that can pitch some high leverage for you and that’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:26
a lot of need. You’re needy, Luke Jones, you’re needy right now.
Luke Jones 22:30
I’m that’s, that’s why I keep saying I get it rotation and everyone has these dreams about having this great rotation. And, you know, we all romanticize what Jack Morris did for the twins 35 years ago and all that all that but there are very few starters in October that are going even seven innings let alone the distance or anything like that. So you need bullpen arms and who do you trust right now in this bullpen? I mean, I’m even giving you Kimbrel I’m giving you yen your Cano even though he has not been good with an inherited runners all year. I’ve said for a while Jacob Webb might be the guy I trust the most. But is he going to wear down because they’re really leaning on him a ton. And we continue to see that. You know, I don’t really have a high level of trust and CNL Perez right now. Now it did the job Thursday in the 10th inning, but we’ve also seen him struggle quite a bit. I don’t have trust in many of their guys that they’re trotting out there in their bullpen right now. So, you know, again, starter, it’s great. I’m on board with it. I’m not anti adding a starter, let’s be clear, but who are
Nestor J. Aparicio 23:40
you anti giving up? Curse that he’s hitting the ball? I mean, like, you know, I look at all of this wealth of these outfielders they have and everybody’s like well, Mullins Hayes what you let go I don’t I don’t know the answer. You know, I’m not I none of these guys have floated my boat so much that I think they’re untouchable on deal level. And you can jump on for Couser because of his defense and his upside. And the pedigree do these are thoroughbred racehorses, these are took us a whole year of losing to get one of these guys, right? So let’s not go and you still have five years of control. So don’t get too enamored with the starting pitcher whose arm could fall off, which is always going to be the dealing bats for arms and growing the arms by the bats, whatever, whatever your MCs ableism what happened to be doesn’t matter when guys get injured, unique. It’s unique guys out on the field. And but how many outfielders do you need? How many first baseman do you need? How many middle infielders do you need when you’re trying to win the World Series. And we go here day after day after day. So we don’t have enough pitchers.
Luke Jones 24:50
Yeah, I mean, it’s it’s not an easy. It’s not an easy answer, right. I mean, these
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:56
names are gone by Tuesday. Right and Mason Miller would have been a great example of like something that like a Couser, you know, that probably would have had to, they probably want some major league out somebody’s gotta go there and play somebody gotta go to Sacramento or run around, you know, next year. So like, I just keep thinking about like, so we wake up Tuesday and we have Scoble, I’m making this up and pick your two relievers that you like, who’s gone? And we start to name the names. And it’d be like, you know, it’s not it’s not going to be, you know, your as you know what I mean? It’s certainly not your tail right now. So I mean, it’s not going to be the lesser guy just gonna be guys, we like to. Sure.
Luke Jones 25:40
At the same time, I’ll continue to say the, you know, Will, the Orioles have a different tier of prospects than most teams, and that doesn’t mean they’re going to deal from that. So there are still plenty of guys in the Orioles system that other teams are going to like, there are guys in the Orioles system that they like, but are not necessarily guys we’re talking about on an everyday basis. Again, they’re not the cream of the crop. They’re not guys playing at the major league level right now. They’re not even guys at triple A, there are guys like that. So I still think they’re going to be looking to deal more of those guys. And a lot of that is waiting and waiting and trying to figure out the right moment to deal these guys. Because especially with the market just starting to get rolling over the last day or two. The prices are still high. You know, this is a seller’s market. I think that’s obvious. When you look at the number of teams that we’ve talked about, are they buying or selling? I mean, I just saw there was a report. What I guess it was late Thursday night. Sounds like the Rangers are in it now. Right? Whereas a few weeks ago, we were talking about them as a seller
Nestor J. Aparicio 26:44
is gonna be our guy, right? Yeah. It’d be our Kyle Gibson, right,
Luke Jones 26:47
right. I mean, Kirby Yates, they’re closers like, hey, maybe that that’s the kind of guy that would be attractive, you know, someone who’s been around a long time, too. So, you know, it’s just, you still have such a limited pool of teams where you say, okay, they’re definitely selling, they’re definitely sellers. I mean, even even teams like the raise who are clearly selling off some guys, we’ve also seen the rays be in that territory where they’re like, buying and selling at the same time. And that’s where I’ve said, Don’t dismiss the possibility. And by the way, have you noticed there been some other reports of the Orioles saying that Ryan mountcastle could be available on the right Diona. I’ve been saying that for a month now in terms of don’t dismiss the possibility of even trading some of your major league talent in along with some prospects to land some other teams pitcher or land, a couple pitchers from another team who feels good about their pitching, but they say, oh, we need another bat. So I’ll still come back to my overall point, though, that bringing it back to the beginning of our conversation, how the Orioles have struggled over the last month, they haven’t really swung the bats over the last month. You know, I’ve seen more and more people even say, you know, is there a right handed bat out there that, you know, a veteran outfielder or something like that, that the Orioles might add? You know, I’m not gonna say that’s impossible. But I think it’s much more a case of everyone. Everyone around baseball is looking for a bat to I mean, my goodness, the Yankees, you know, we were we were just talking about the Yankees in the trade deadline, what, 10 days ago, a 14 days ago, and look at their lineup on a nightly basis, they need probably a couple bats in addition to their pitching needs. So I don’t think the Orioles are going to add a bat. I’d be kind of surprised by that. So they need their guys to start producing them. There’s a point
Nestor J. Aparicio 28:35
where giving Santander away, and saving the money and saving the offseason for relief pitcher who can actually perform that might not be a bad swap. If you really liked the young outfielders you have or you feel like you could get by those would be kind of like the really weirdly power moves to say we need this more than we need that. And same thing with mountcastle whose name has been thrown around or whatever. I don’t know what the value the arozarena things interesting to me early on, because you’re pointing out something that I don’t think about much which is everybody else can’t hit the ball. It’s mariners can’t hit the ball. Nobody can hit the ball. And we got all these guys. Maybe one of these guys turns into the relief pitcher. That’s a really good that that’s the first guy you’re talking about. Not the second guy, you know, reliever, one reliever to help Kimbrough not reliever to backfill, Brian Baker CNL Perez. But giving away a starter or proceeds starter when you say well, we can still win the World Series with Hasan Mullins and Kirsten powers and on and on and on and on. We can move this and that and get mayo in here. We’re bringing holiday up there’s gonna be extra space. Like I don’t know what the big picture is. But this is the week we figure that out to some degree, because there are moving parts. I mean, I would think Mike Elias is going to do stuff by Tuesday. Then on Friday morning. He didn’t think he was going to do
Luke Jones 29:57
Yeah, and I think They’re going to acquire a couple guys that aren’t necessarily guys that we’ve been talking about, right? I mean, might be someone that’s kind of under the radar might be someone that, frankly, another team wasn’t really expected to move someone. And maybe there’s someone where they say, Hey, that’s a good match. And we liked this guy in their system. He’s not the top prospect, but he’s someone we liked in the draft, and they’ve developed him and he’s someone that’s going to be really good for us. Two years from now, you know. So, I mean, it’s just it’s so difficult to talk about this. Because there’s just so much unknown. I mean, there’s this market. You, you’ve heard the ken Rosenthal’s of the world talking about this. It’s way bigger
Nestor J. Aparicio 30:36
pool of people that who the ravens are going to draft the 27th. But from a talking point perspective, right? Oh, sure.
Luke Jones 30:42
Well, but it’s such a big pool of possibilities. But what is the actual pool, though? What is the actual number of guys that are going to be moved that that are really moving the needle? Right? And that’s where, again, and
Nestor J. Aparicio 30:55
what’s actually going to happen to, you know, talk a lot about it. In the end, are they going to make two deals, three deals, how many deals with how many teams involving how many players that the oil is going to my overunder would be? I think they’ll they’re going to make three deals that will involve 12 players, and I’m talking about down the line, rookie ball, there’ll be names thrown around in organizations, that’s a lot of personnel, you know, to scout and know. And with three deals, and we’re going to do this with the Cardinals, we’re going to do that with the mariners we’re going to do what however, it’s just it’s a really complex thing, you know, and I guess this is why over the weekend, if ally shows up for 20 minutes in the booth, and does a little papel blessing for everybody on a full day and wheels aren’t falling off, that might not be a bad temperature thing. But I would think he’s really busy man, you know what I mean? It doesn’t get any busier than this, in the history of the franchise where the balance of we don’t have enough pitching, but we’re good enough to win the World Series. We haven’t said we’re good enough to win the World Series, like how many times ever and the windows there and you have a one starter and you have a two star and you have these amazing kids. You just stole the all star game with the pitcher and the catcher and you got pretty decent health on the field. Like there’s a lot of expectation for them to do a lot of things, not make one deal that involves four players this week and say, Well, we’re good, because I don’t think that’ll be good enough. Right? Well,
Luke Jones 32:18
but I also think you’re looking at it a little bit too simplistically, in the sense of who’s hot, who gets hot in September, at this time last year, the Rangers were not what they ended up being. And the Arizona Diamondbacks certainly were not talked about in those terms whatsoever. And it’s not like the Diamondbacks had this. You know, they had a one two punch in their rotation and then after that, it was kind of an unknown, right. So that’s where it’s where I keep saying like I get it. I’d like to see the Orioles upgrade from Dean Kramer to but is that upgrade going to be someone that is pitching seven innings at a postseason game. I still think it’s probably someone who’s probably seeing a lineup twice and then you’re turning it over to the bullpen and that’s why I keep saying bullpen, bullpen. bullpen bullpen because
Nestor J. Aparicio 32:58
I got Jack Flaherty’s name has come up several times this week, right? You know what,
Luke Jones 33:02
hey, but Jack Flaherty might end up being the best pitcher that’s moved, in terms of how he’s performing in 2024. Because again, I’m still not convinced at school is being dealt. If he is then fine. Of course, Google’s the best starting pitcher doubt on this market. But if it’s not him, you know, Jack Flaherty, I’ll be in a rental, I’ll be it. You know, we’re talking about a one year sample, he still might be the best. And I saw Ken Rosenthal say that the Orioles wouldn’t be opposed to going down that road again. And, you know, I’m not gonna sit here and say that I’d be doing cartwheels about it. But if he ends up being the best starter that’s moved, and the Orioles land them then, so be it and you hope it goes way better. They
Nestor J. Aparicio 33:41
life is about second chances. Sure.
Luke Jones 33:43
I mean, look, you know, again, so much of this and I talked about this in one of our recent conversations, when you’re talking about the trade deadline there, there’s a very real human element to that in terms of someone being dealt uprooting their family in the middle of the season, coming to a new organization, someone who might have a very defined way of doing things and maybe that doesn’t mesh well with the new organization and it doesn’t mean like you hate each other or anything but it’s just like, hey, we did it. We did it like this here and now you’re asking me to do it like this here everybody
Nestor J. Aparicio 34:17
in our audience everyone watches us every day has had a job or gone to a new school or gone into a room and new people or gone to a new place or you know driven a new way to work. And you know, that’s always a challenge but or every name we’ve mentioned here in the last 30 minutes across all these organizations all these names mean they’re all people who have wives families kids that that that houses this that luggage furniture, all that that’s in the balance this whole weekend because they know they could get tapped on the shoulder any their ballplayers. It’s not for long, right? Even though we call Major League Baseball, and they’ll say NFL, it’s not for long and baseball either.
Luke Jones 34:53
And right now, as we’re talking about all these different names, and we’ve talked about a lot And you can go to any website and find 100 guys that are on these lists of possible guys being traded, even some of the very best ones, guess what? They’re gonna go to a new team and they’re not going to play very well. We see it every single year where there are guys who get dealt. And you think it’s going to be, you know, guys that are even more highly regarded than Jack Flaherty at last year’s trade deadline, right. I mean, clarity is the easy recent example for the Orioles. But you find it every year, some notable impact players dealt and it does not go well with their new team and think about it that new team who gave up real minor league talent or maybe a major league player that they sent and to acquire someone that’s the missing link, you know, the the so called Missing Link for their World Series hopes, and it doesn’t work out. So it’s where I’ve said, Look, yes, I fully expect the Orioles are gonna make a couple moves here. But if we’re talking about this team plan, the third and fourth week of October, chances are it’s still going to be way more that Corbin Burns is a stud. Grayson Rodriguez pitches like a stud and Gunnar Henderson and Adley rutschman. And Anthony Santander and Jordan Westberg. And who knows maybe Jackson holiday, maybe Kobe mayo? It’s because those guys are hitting the ball when it really matters. And they’re playing their best baseball again, down the stretch. And that translates you know that when you turn the calendar in October, it continues. So, look, the trade deadline is fun. But it’s also I mean, there’s such a combustible time. It’s such a strange time. I think teams and players are on edge. And look, that’s not an excuse for the Orioles right now. But, you know, that’s part of what every team is dealing with right now in terms of whether you’re a defined seller, and you know that guys are in your major league clubhouse are definitely leaving. Or if you’re a team like the Orioles who very clearly are buying but Okay, is it just going to be lower level guys? Or is it going to be one or two guys that are in your current clubhouse, you know, whether we’re talking about even a veteran player like a mountcastle or, or, you know, Aston Karstadt, or Conor Norby, whoever it is. So there’s that tension there. Anyone who covers baseball, and I’ll leave you with this final point, and we want to cover it has covered Major League Baseball, you know, for a long time will tell you that, that last week to 10 days leading up to the trade deadline,
Nestor J. Aparicio 37:24
right after the all star game. The All Star game, that’s a tense
Luke Jones 37:28
time for a major league clubhouse, it really is. I mean, I’ll be I’ll be in the clubhouse all weekend, right leading into Tuesday’s deadline. And MLB Network will be on and you’ll see graphics, because we see it all the time, right? You know, the talking heads in the studio shows, they’ll put up their potential trade that they like, and they’ll literally put up a graphic that will have one or two guys that are sitting in that clubhouse watch, maybe watching that TV, maybe not. And it’ll be a hypothetical trade that they’re being sent to. So when
Nestor J. Aparicio 38:00
a trade happens, I played with him somewhere that you know, eight CDs, and he’s in my phone, they text them good luck. And the Latin players all know each other. And the guys that came year to year all, you know, guys that have been dealt around. I mean, you know, this organization is pretty inbred. But there’s still, you know, there’s some outsiders in this organization as well, you know, sure.
Luke Jones 38:21
Well, in Miami, you know, Tanner Scott, he shoots with this team a couple years ago. So you have some of that, but it’s just it’s a tense time. It’s an unsettling time. Sure. I don’t think gunner Henderson has any worries that he’s being traded, right. So you obviously have some guys that you know, aren’t going anywhere in any plausible scenario. But you also know that they’re, you know, a couple of veteran players could be dealt, or a couple of these prospects that are, you know, kind of Hubbard had been hovering at the major league level or, you know, ping pong back and forth, you know, they can be dealt, so, you know, your best friend could be dealt, you know, some there’s some of that. And that’s not exclusive to the Orioles. And let me be clear that that’s not an excuse for how they played over the last few weeks whatsoever. And I’m not suggesting that but just in a general sense. You know, it’s kind of a high strung time for a major league clubhouse,
Nestor J. Aparicio 39:12
especially when you’re not playing well.
Luke Jones 39:14
Let’s add Yeah, exactly. Because that’s the other thing you don’t know, you know, is your general manager going to be a little more rational, a little a little more hasty in making moves? Or? I don’t think that’s Mike Elias, I think Mike Elias is still going to look at a bigger sample bigger picture, still look at the fact that, you know, this is a team that’s, you know, on still on a pace for well over 90 wins, you know, so they’re gonna make moves. And once the dust settles, Tuesday night and more, so Wednesday, when guys start to report that have been traded, then we’ll have a better idea and then you kind of settle in and you say, Okay, this is our roster. I’ll be at the Orioles still have guys that they can call up from triple A that I still think will will be here and you know what, we’ll see how it plays out but It’s exciting, but it’s also really anxious time. And I think the Orioles and every other team in baseball is dealing with that to varying degrees in terms of how this is really going to look. But now that we’ve started to see some trades being made, I expect the market to really pick up and we’ll see exactly what the Orioles are going to do I still, whether it’s going to be big, big moves or more modest moves, I still tend to lean towards the more modest because I just think that’s how Mike Elias is going to operate. But that said, back in January, I wouldn’t have necessarily said I expected them to acquire Corbin burns and then lo and behold, February 1 They did that. So expect anything at this point in time. But that said, I still don’t think we’re gonna see Jackson holiday traded. And I’m still not expecting necessarily that we’re going to see mayo or besides traded. But if it’s Derek Scoble, chances are you’re gonna have to at least give up one of those guys to get them. So we’ll see how this plays out here over the next few days. And it’s going to be exciting and certainly want to be following us on our social media channels to monitor everything that’s happening from Camden Yards.
Nestor J. Aparicio 41:08
You said high anxiety and I remember that being a movie back in the 70s Mel Brooks movie. I don’t know that I ever saw it I’m reading up on it but actually, uh, Barry Levinson or your fan was involved in high anxiety so a big weekend this week, a manny Machado you can get one of those sexy little floppy hats to give to Uncle master. You know, with Baltimore City Connect, you know, I went through all that with Todd random this week. A segment chose for Louis Jones for fashion nerds have also had Maury brown on this week and Kurt botanizing. On this week, Marty Conway came on for 45 minutes and scold me for Katie Griggs. So we have all sorts of really cool stuff coming out in the audio vault. I’ll also add a Baltimore positive Luke’s around chase in the Ravens we’ll get to that. And Manny Machado is back here this weekend and trading deadline my mom’s birthday weekend. It’s it’s hot out there’s a lot of rock and roll being played in a high anxiety amongst Orioles fans. I’m Nestor he’s Luke we are Baltimore positive.com Stay with us.
