Hitting the orange light on Orioles scuffling season

We haven’t seen much that we’ve liked over the first month of the season but the Boston Red Sox weekend theft of a pair of games at Camden Yards has alarmed Luke Jones, who joins Nestor to discuss the Birds bottoming out against a distressed division rival and staring down the New York Yankees this weekend in The Bronx.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ disappointing performance over the weekend, losing two out of three games to the Red Sox. The Orioles, with a 13-15 record, are struggling despite a promising start on Friday with a 10-2 win. Concerns were raised about the pitching, particularly Kyle Bradish and Trevor Rogers, and the defense, which has been inconsistent. The team’s record reflects a lack of consistency and underperformance, especially considering the Red Sox’s recent managerial change. The upcoming schedule includes crucial games against the Yankees and Astros, which could significantly impact the team’s season outlook.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour event at Pizza John’s in Essex on Friday as part of the tour.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour event at Planet Fitness in Timonium on May 7.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour event at The Fishmonger’s Daughter in Catonsville on May 21.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Cover the Preakness and related Churchill Downs content at The Fishmonger’s Daughter event on May 21.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Chase down Dick Girardi this week for potential coverage or interview.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Have Jamie Moyer appear on the program this week to discuss pitching.

Orioles’ Weekend Performance and Upcoming Events

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Orioles’ performance over the weekend, noting their loss to the Red Sox and the Red Sox’s subsequent firing of their manager.
• Nestor mentions various other sports events happening, including the Stanley Cup, NBA Playoffs, Kentucky Derby, and Preakness.
• Nestor and Luke Jones talk about their Maryland crab cake tour, including visits to Fayley’s, Koco’s, and Pizza John’s.
• Nestor promotes new Maryland scratch-off lottery tickets and jokes about wearing a sweatshirt in 91-degree weather.

Orioles’ Record and Recent Games

• Luke Jones comments on the Orioles’ record, noting they are not very good with a 13-15 record.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the Orioles’ win on Friday night, highlighting the performances of Gunner Henderson, Adley Rutschman, and Bryan Baker.
• Luke mentions the Red Sox’s firing of their manager and the timing of the decision, which was influenced by the game time being moved up due to weather.
• Nestor and Luke express frustration with the lack of professionalism and proper etiquette in sports management.

Orioles’ Performance Against the Red Sox

• Luke Jones describes the Orioles’ performance over the weekend, noting their disappointing loss after a promising start on Friday night.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the Red Sox’s struggles and the Orioles’ missed opportunity to capitalize on their weaknesses.
• Luke mentions a post from Orioles Hangout that described the Orioles as playing like minnows instead of sharks.
• Nestor and Luke express disappointment in the Orioles’ performance, particularly in their pitching and defense.

Concerns About Starting Pitchers

• Nestor and Luke discuss the concerns about starting pitchers Kyle Bradish and Trevor Rogers, noting their struggles and the impact on the bullpen.
• Luke highlights Bradish’s issues with falling behind hitters and his decreased velocity.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of good starting pitching and the impact on the team’s overall performance.
• Nestor mentions the need for better performance from the top of the rotation to improve the team’s record.

Offensive Performance and Defense Issues

• Nestor and Luke discuss the offensive performance of players like Pete Alonso, Colton Cowser, and Koby Mayo, noting their struggles.
• Luke highlights the importance of defense and the issues with the Orioles’ outfielders, including Dylan Beavers and Blaze Alexander.
• Nestor and Luke express frustration with the team’s defense and the lack of consistency in their play.
• Nestor mentions the need for better performance from the offense and defense to improve the team’s record.

Upcoming Schedule and Challenges

• Nestor and Luke discuss the upcoming schedule, including games against the Astros, Yankees, and Athletics.
• Nestor mentions the importance of winning against the Astros to improve the team’s record.
• Luke highlights the challenges of playing against the Yankees and the need for the team to perform well.
• Nestor and Luke express concern about the team’s ability to compete against top teams in the league.

Team’s Potential and Future Moves

• Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s potential and the need for better performance from the young players.
• Luke mentions the possibility of making changes to the team if they continue to struggle, including trading players.
• Nestor and Luke express frustration with the team’s performance and the need for a turnaround.
• Nestor highlights the importance of the upcoming games and the need for the team to start playing better.

Final Thoughts and Future Outlook

• Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s future outlook and the need for better performance from the players.
• Luke mentions the importance of winning games and the impact on the team’s record.
• Nestor highlights the need for better performance from the starting pitchers and the offense.
• Nestor and Luke express hope for a turnaround and better performance from the team in the coming weeks.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles, Red Sox, Adley Rutschman, Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, bullpen, defense, Pete Alonso, starting pitching, Yankees series, Astros series, Baltimore, MLB, baseball.

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SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively, getting a little baseball coming your way. After a long weekend of dress so long I haven’t shaved yet. I feel like gritty and the flyers and we got Stanley Cup going on. We got the NBA Playoffs happening. We have the Kentucky Derby this week and the Preakness and Laurel. We’re going to be doing the Maryland crab cake tour, and we’re going to be doing it all over the place. We’ve already been to, cost us, and simonium already been to fayley’s. We’re going back to fayley’s. We were Koco’s last week. This week, on Friday, we’re going to be pizza John’s in Essex, not just because Luke wears the hats and because I need french fries and gravy properly. That will happen on Friday. We have full house. We have the Maryland treasures, new scratch offs to give away, four different kind. They’ve been a lot of fun to give away, although I do think the orange one is the one that’s really appealing with the boardwalk on it, and maybe it’s appealing I wear my phone in a Dermer sweatshirt. Luke and I look like twinsies, and it’s just sort of because, like, not just to promote HVAC and plumbing needs and like all of that, just this weather, 91 day, 40 the next morning, I got to wear a sweatshirt one morning the baseball game. It’s 91 day. I’m out there sweating. The next day it’s like 41 and hot dog rappers are blowing all over the place, little bit like the Orioles play, sort of blowing all over the place. You know, I don’t know where this is. Doesn’t feel like a good baseball team right about now, though.

Luke Jones  01:27

Luke, no, it doesn’t. I mean point blank, it doesn’t. I don’t think they’re terrible, but I don’t think they’re very good, and their record reflects that 13 and 15 it’s not necessarily heading toward last year, although people will point out that their records not terribly different than it was at this point last year. I mean, remember, it was really the first couple weeks of May when it completely crashed and burned, and that’s when they let go of Hyde and and all that. But, I mean, look at the weekend. They win big on Friday night. You know, Gunner Henderson and Adley rutschman and beavers homer in the first off Brian bayo and mayo and bisayo Homer. It’s a big night, right? Adley two home runs drives in six. And you’re saying, Wow. I mean, that that was good to see on the heels of, you know, coming

Nestor Aparicio  02:13

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home, and any awakening of Adley rutschman is, like, adley’s been really good. I mean, it’s a really good thing.

Luke Jones  02:19

He’s swinging the bat really well. Brandon young, you know you and I haven’t this the first time we’ve chatted since Dean Kramer went on the IL Brandon young pitched well enough, and you’re thinking, okay, great chance for a series win. Little did we know what the Red Sox were about to do 24 hours later, but

Nestor Aparicio  02:37

including firing their manager. Well, that’s

Luke Jones  02:39

what I’m talking about. Oh, I thought you might score seven two. I’m saying the fact that, the fact that the Red Sox, even with their 17 to one win on Saturday, they fired their manager after the fact, and really it, based on what I’ve read. And apologies for anyone listening who maybe knows this better than I do. I’ve been busy with the draft all weekend, but it sounds like the Red Sox had planned to do it earlier in the day Saturday, but before, but because they moved the game time up to noon, because of the pending weather and and all that, they decided, hey, we, you know, we can’t fire our manager and then play a 12 O’Clock game. So they waited until after the fact. They waited until 17 to one and the Orioles just looking the Orioles looking like the team that was about to fire their manager, quite frankly, and they fire their manager, and, you know, Red Sox players are spouting off about this. You could tell there’s, there’s a lot of disconnect, and a lot of there’s

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Nestor Aparicio  03:31

so much lack of professionalism in all these organizations. I know this time last year, Elias is firing the manager and hiding from the media in Milwaukee, he kept his job. They’ve hired the new manager. Like, I just, yeah. I mean, not to mention whatever Diane Rossini was doing with Mike Vrabel last week. It just sort of what’s proper and what’s not proper and what you can get away with, and what these corporations allow to have happen behind closed doors. And, you know, I just all the way around. I don’t know where the etiquette of any of this is, but it’s ridiculous to fire your manager after you win 17 to one.

Luke Jones  04:10

Oh, and I think there’s also an argument to be made that it’s kind of ridiculous to fire your manager on April 25 I mean, I look the Red Sox are off to a bad start. But the point I was getting ready, ready to finish, to make, or finish making was, I mean, if you’re the Orioles, you’re looking at this, you have a team that fired its manager in the midst of two defeats, and you lost a series at home to that team, like pu it’s bad. It’s not good. I mean, to state the obvious. I mean, this was as disappointing of a series as they’ve had all year, including the sweep in Pittsburgh, right? I mean, this is, there was blooded i i have to take, I cannot take credit for this. I saw this on Orioles Hangout, just a random poster, because I’ll browse it every now and then. Just. Kind of get an idea of what fans are talking about, and, you know, things that I might miss on the internet or whatever, especially when I’ve kind of been in Draft Draft focus the last few days. But someone made the point that there was blood in the water for the Orioles over the weekend, and instead of being sharks, they played like minnows. And I thought, man, it’s hard to art that that’s kind of cold, but hard to say that that wasn’t true over the weekend. Really disappointing, right? I mean that that was the kind of series that when you look at the state of the Red Sox and how bad they’ve been, and you and I talked about it before the Orioles came home on the heels of the series win in Kansas City, that you were coming home to play a Red Sox team that was struggling now playing an Astros team that’s struggling, this is a chance to reel off a five and one home stand or something like that, and get yourself over 500 and start playing better. And instead they play, they play well Friday night. Great. The latest, the latest game that’s going to springboard them right? I mean, how many times have we said that now this year, and then they turn around and they lose the next two with your number one and number two starters going mind you. So, really disappointing stuff. And as I was watching it on Sunday afternoon, I kept thinking to myself, wait, which of these teams just fired its manager? And no, that’s not Luke Jones saying Craig Albernaz needs to be fired. No, not nothing like that, but just the way they played, right? I mean, bad defense, and, you know, Bradish not looking very good.

Nestor Aparicio  06:31

Yeah, I was gonna ask you like so I’m

Luke Jones  06:32

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concerned about Bradish at this point.

Nestor Aparicio  06:35

What concerns you the most? Yeah. I mean, I would say there’s not a

Luke Jones  06:41

whole lot that I love right now, being honest.

Nestor Aparicio  06:43

And the first thing I bring up is the defense, because I don’t think there’s any hope for that. We could talk it’s more about where the bullpen would be, where the starting pitchers could be, what boss could be, where bassett’s been in his life, how Dean Kramer this is gonna like, I could sell you petunias and roses all day long on that I can sell you on Richmond’s turn the corner, and even cows are had an RBI this weekend, you know. So, like, I could sell you on all of their one ones, and I could sell you on the prosperity of Tyler O’Neill getting healthy and hitting home runs, and westburg coming back, and holiday will be right there around it. Like, I can sell you all the Bon Bons. I think the defense is hopeless, like in a general sense, and then I just worry about the holes in the bats of striking out runners in scoring position, and the general ceiling on where their prospects are, and the reality of what we want them to be in spring training. And what pasayo is right this minute, what cows are is right this minute, what Mayo is right this minute, what Alonso is, whatever you paid him, you know, you paid him like he’s Babe Ruth now he’s Pete Alonso. And, yeah, but the pitching and the front end of the rotation for me this weekend, seeing that get roughed up a little bit, you mentioned Bradish, I was going to say Rogers. So bang, bang. It’s like, it’s like a pinball machine. You and I,

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Luke Jones  08:05

yeah, I mean, let’s go back to Saturday. I mean, Rogers has perfectly fine first inning. He throws 47 pitches in the second inning and couldn’t get through it. I mean, I was watching that I had it on while I was covering the draft, and I made the point, it’s generally not going to go well, it’s not going to be a good day when Trevor Rogers is out of the game before the Ravens made their first pick of the afternoon. I mean, that’s, that’s what you were looking at on Saturday afternoon. Well, they did play lunchtime. I mean, I will say this with Rogers look. And I said this throughout the offseason, and I think you agreed with me. No one was expecting him to be a sub two pitcher again, because nothing about the peripherals and looking at the strikeout numbers and all of that, nothing about that suggested he was going to be able to duplicate that in the way that Tarek skub Will might be able to have that that kind of season back to back in the way that Paul Skeens has the ability to have that season. You know, I think anyone who was being realistic and analytic, analytical about it, knew that Rogers wasn’t going to have a sub two era again, that said, does he need to be better? No question about it. I think there’s been a little bit of unlucky batted ball luck for him, but he needs to be better. There’s no doubt you can’t have a 47 pitch second inning and not even get out of the inning, and then that puts your bullpen on its head the rest of the day and the rest of the weekend. In the case of Bradish, on Sunday, it’s very much like what we we’ve been seeing, keeps falling behind first pitch strike. He has the worst first pitch strike percentage and all of baseball among qualified pitchers. Now, let me be clear, that is not a disqualifier, but boy, that makes things really difficult to pitch well consistently, because at the very least, if you’re falling behind 1010102021, if you’re falling behind like that to every pitcher or every. Hitter, what’s happening at at the very least, your pitch counts going way up. And it’s just you’re facing a lot of stressful innings and a lot of stressful at bats, and that’s that’s what we’re seeing with him. His velocity dipped over the course that that’s been an issue for him. Not that I necessarily am saying that means he’s injured, but I think you’re just seeing he’s not having a lot of easy 123, innings early in these games, and that’s cutting them off at the knees of trying to get through more than five innings. So he, you know, he’s not getting as much swing and miss. His walks are up. That’s those aren’t great combinations, right? And again, I’m not saying it’s that he can’t turn this around, but it is disheartening looking at it through the lens of what he looked like last September. Now, he wasn’t going seven or eight innings, obviously coming off of, you know, his first few starts, coming back from Tommy John, but it looked really dominant. If you recall, he was striking a lot of people out, and he was missing bats. He wasn’t walking people, and we’re just not seeing that same crisp version of Kyle Bradish early on here. And, yeah, it’s a problem. I mean, look, we know the Orioles didn’t go out and sign for Amber Valdez or Dylan cease or Ranger Suarez. They didn’t go out and get that legit number one, we all understand that, right? And we even debated how much is too much for trying to land one of those guys knowing that pitchers get hurt, and we saw that.

Nestor Aparicio  11:29

I think the greater debate was whether what we saw with Bradish and Rogers were really going to hold off, and we just thought it did.

Luke Jones  11:35

But well, they needed it to, and they still needed to write it whatever, whatever we’re projecting the Orioles to be in terms of if they’re going to be a team that has any chance for the division, if they’re going to be a team that is in the wild card race, if they’re going to be a team that makes the playoffs, all of those scenarios included Rogers and Bradish being really good. Now that doesn’t mean they were going to finish in top three in Cy Young voting, but they needed to be legitimate one and twos for the Orioles, at the very least well. And there’s your thoughts.

Nestor Aparicio  12:07

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Money to Alonso, and you put all of this, he’s got to be worth $30 million and all these guys have to hit you like they’re worth $50 million in order for this to smell like 92 wins, I keep going back to 92 wins,

Luke Jones  12:20

and you and I talked a lot about, and I’m not going to shy away from it. I was a fan of the boss acquisition to this point, he’s been really mediocre at best, right? That’s the best, you know, bass, it’s just been playing bad. So, you know, I was never a

Nestor Aparicio  12:34

fan of the boss contract. I want to say that that’s fine. I just, we’re also knocking out on pictures at that, at that volume of money, is like,

Luke Jones  12:44

that was never a contract that we’re assessing after a month.

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Nestor Aparicio  12:48

I mean, that’s, I understand that.

Luke Jones  12:50

Yeah, yeah, no, I hear you. And look, you could be completely right about that. But point is, when you look at those three and then you look at the turmoil in the bottom half of the rotation with Bassett being bad. It’s been better since, you know, the first two starts were horrendous, and he’s been more mediocre to bad since then. Kramer’s on the IL, you know, with a quad, the latest example of what does this team do from a strength and conditioning standpoint, how does a pitcher hurt his quad in between starts. I mean, I just, I’ve been saying it for two years now. I really question that. You know, they’re not going to, when you ask them about it, they’re going to tell you all these great things and but they don’t. They can’t keep players healthy. So Brandon Young’s pitched well, that’s that’s been good to see. You know he pitched well, Friday night. Great. Cade. Povich. Maybe we’ll see him again at some point here in the near future. He pitched well when he had opportunities. You know, efflin is gone for the year already, right? So your top half has been disappointing and your bottom half has been very problematic. Now it’s, yeah, it adds up to this team being, you know, a slightly below 500 outfit, and that’s before we even get into the fact that Pete Alonso continues to be not just disappointing. Pete Alonso has been bad, like they need Pete Alonso to start hitting. We’re a month into the season. Now, I’m not this isn’t me panicking for the duration of the contract, but for 2026 and what the Orioles want to accomplish in the here and now, like, let’s go, man, you need to start producing. Like, you’re supposed to be a dude with Gunner Henderson. And you know, we’ve talked about gunner being up and down, but at least gunners producing. You know, it hasn’t been consistent as as consistent as you’d like it to be, but Pete Alonso is barely done.

Nestor Aparicio  14:43

Who’s having a good year? I mean, a couple of the bullpens, you could say Taylor wards.

Luke Jones  14:47

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Taylor Ward’s been excellent. Yeah, offensively, defense is another story. Yeah, rushman, I’ll be in a smaller sample, because he had the 10 day stint, but rushman has swung the bat Well, Jeremiah Jackson and leoti Tavares have been good stories, right? I mean that. I will say this on the hitting side, even in the midst of a really disappointing weekend, I’m really starting to like what I’m seeing from basayo at the plate. You’re seeing a better version. He’s looking like a guy to me. And look, he’s he’s going to have his ups and downs still. He’s a young he’s 21 years old. But over the last week, the home runs are, are one, you know, that’s a given, right? You see the power. The guy can just kind of flick his bat out there and the ball. It’s a rocket. I mean, it. Gunner was even talking about it over the weekend, like it’s just, I think, I can’t remember if he said if sick or disgusting was it was his description of the science, raw power. But you know what, I really like seeing the three or four instances of him going the other way with the pitch and lining the ball in the left center field. I like seeing that from him. So I am I’m heartened by what I’m seeing from him at the plate. You know, Mayo’s run into a few here over the last couple over the last week, so that’s been good to see. But we’re not seeing a consistent enough lineup, and the rotation has been disappointing. The bullpen has, I think the bullpen has over, you know, overachieved based on the number of injuries they’ve had, and I agree with that wholeheartedly.

Nestor Aparicio  16:16

Bullpen has it been, hasn’t been what’s cost. I mean, it

Luke Jones  16:18

hasn’t been elite, but it’s been good enough, right? I mean, Helsley, other than his, you know, whatever that was in Kansas City and and he he was placed on the, you know, family leave list right after that.

Nestor Aparicio  16:31

So I saw kittridge Throw pitches over

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Luke Jones  16:33

the weekend. Yeah, kittridge. I mean, Keegan Aiken threw pitches on unfortunately, they did not go land in good spots for him on Saturday, but so they’re back in a position where the bullpen is close to being complete. But that’s kind of the one area where I say, All right, it’s been a little better than I expected, especially when you consider the injuries and the guys that have missed time. But everything else, I mean, the offense has been mid middle of the pack at best. The starting pitching has been disappointing. The bullpen has been solid, but it’s not dude, if

Nestor Aparicio  17:07

you have disappointing starting pitching, you can’t be it’s really tough unless you’re unless you’re on me, I’m just thinking of a team profile you can get through all of the rest of this. If you’re starting pitching as a problem, you’re, you’re

Luke Jones  17:19

you’re most likely, most likely, I mean, about the only formula where that really works is your offense is excellent, your bullpen is excellent, and you defend pretty darn well.

Nestor Aparicio  17:30

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Like Cleveland, you’d have to do the other part.

Luke Jones  17:33

Yeah, go. Look at Cleveland a couple years ago like they’re starting pitching wasn’t anything to write home about, but they, you know, this was pre class, a gambling and all that, right, but their bullpen was out of this world. They defended really well, and while their offense didn’t hit a whole lot of home runs, they had Ramirez and Stephen Kwan and, you know, we saw, and we saw that first tan, you know, a couple weeks ago when the Orioles were out there. But, but, yeah, when you aren’t getting great starting pitching, and your defense is doing nothing to help it. It’s hindering that starting pitching, quite frankly. I mean, that’s that right there, dude, when you’re

Nestor Aparicio  18:10

running drills in the end of April to tell guys how to how to hit the cut off, man. I mean, what are we what kind of operation we run? A bad news, freaking bears here. But this is Bail Bonds. I mean seriously,

Luke Jones  18:21

this is what’s bothered me, and I’ll continue to say it, they don’t value defense. Look, I’m as frustrated and concerned about Colton cows are at the plate as anybody, let me be clear, and I say that as someone who’s been a bigger proponent and bigger advocate for him than you have been. You know, in our fun little debate going back a couple years.

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Nestor Aparicio  18:41

Seems like a nice guy, you know, I don’t know him.

Luke Jones  18:44

Look, the bat has been, it’s been bad. It’s it’s been a problem that said he’s overwhelmingly their best outfielder. The numbers suggest he’s an above average outfielder. I’m not saying he’s Willie Mays and, you know, he’s better at a corner spot, but look at what they did Sunday. Dylan beaver’s playing center field. You can’t tell me you care about defense if you’re putting Dylan beavers in center field or Blaze Alexander in center field, like we saw what, a week and a half ago, they don’t

Nestor Aparicio  19:14

prioritize treating it like a golf league

Luke Jones  19:16

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B game, yeah. And the thing is, look, you can say, well, they can’t afford to have cows or his bat in the lineup. Are these other guys swinging the bat all that well to, I mean, like, and don’t get me wrong, I like Dylan beavers as a player overall, but let’s not act like he’s, I mean, he has a 679, ops. He’s not hitting to the degree where you can stomach his out his defense in center field, you know, plays Alexander, same thing with him. I mean, he hasn’t hit at all so far this year. You know, this idea that you just put random people in the outfield and to stand out there unless your offense is out of this world, like that’s a problem. Them for me. So this is just right now. Goes back to what you said at the beginning of our conversation there. It’s not very good right now. They’re not they’re not lost and hopeless in the way that you view the Mets. And quite frankly, as much as it pains me to say this as someone who generally likes the Phillies as my favorite National League team. They’ve been awful. I mean, I think it’ll be interesting to see their Philly people are talking about like, maybe it’s time to move on from Rob Thompson and go, go hire Alex Cora right away. And he winds up in Philly. But so, so the Orioles haven’t been that. But at the same time, I’ll go back, and this is where I’ll pick on michaelias a little bit because he held court on Friday. And I think at the time, we were all kind of wondering when that press conference was called. I’m like, Oh, is this? Is this going to be the doom and gloom update on Jackson holiday? And it wasn’t. But the quote was, we’re okay, but we wish we were doing better. And look that, and that was just one line from it, right? And he, he said a lot of other perfectly fair, reasonable things, but I just hear that. And I’m looking at this thing and I’m saying, look, the standard is not to be just to be a little bit better than last year and to not be a disaster like last year. Like this is a team that won 101 games three years ago, and you look at where it is right now, they feel way closer to being a last place bad team than a 100 win outfit right now. And that’s

Nestor Aparicio  21:30

really disheartening. Yeah, lots would have to happen, really disheartened game. Yeah. I mean, like or to play at that level, based on what I’ve seen the first just

Luke Jones  21:39

not showing any level of consistency. I mean, I look we’re still early enough in the season where, other than a couple teams and all of baseball, you can still make the argument for X, Y and Z to happen, for this club to start playing better and to be in Yankees have

Nestor Aparicio  21:57

more talent. You know, Tampa may or may not based on how they’re playing. You know, how you feel Red Sox prospects, and how you feel about the Blue Jays and what they did last year, right? Like, to your point, everybody’s two above 500 or two below 500 except a couple of teams that suck, and let’s say the Dodgers, the Yankees and the padres, you know, have played well

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Luke Jones  22:18

so far. I’d throw Atlanta and Atlanta in there. I mean, Atlanta’s Atlanta’s kind of been the team that, holy cow. How did

Nestor Aparicio  22:24

that happen? Because, I mean, the Astros are coming in here. They stink,

Luke Jones  22:28

sort of the Red Sox, yeah, Red Sox. It’s like I said. I mean, I’m not trying to make this overly simplistic. And yes, it’s baseball, and yes, we can use all the platitudes we talk about, about it being April and it’s early and all that, but they just fired their freaking manager and beat you two out of and they beat you two out of three on the road, right? Like, that’s, that’s, that’s an embarrassing weekend, if we’re calling a spade a spade. It’s not like, oh, fire everyone, or anything like that, but that’s an embarrassing weekend. I mean, it really is, like I said on on Sunday watching the the thing that was, I was maybe most dumbfounded by Sunday was the Red Sox had a four run lead going into the what the middle innings at that point, and yet, they had run into multiple outs on the bases. It was kind of wild to me that the Red Sox had a four run lead in that game, if you had only watched them run into multiple outs on the base paths, which to me, spoke way more about how the Orioles were playing than the Red Sox, because the Red Sox didn’t even third base, came

Nestor Aparicio  23:31

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up, spread his legs, and got tagged

Luke Jones  23:32

out, like they’re doing that kind of stuff, and yet that team’s still beating you, even though they’re doing things like that. So really, really disappointing,

Nestor Aparicio  23:40

by the way, man, Yankees this week, right? Like they have an interesting schedule, last place Astros. Then they got to go to New York this weekend for four games. You stick around on one of those wraparound series, right? And then then they go to Miami, where everybody’s asleep and we’re getting Cuban food, and the players all love to go down there and chase girls and look out. And it’s look at the weather and how nice it is. Yet they have this.

Luke Jones  24:03

Yet they have the same record as the Orioles right now. But go ahead, I agree with everything you just

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Nestor Aparicio  24:07

said that. Then the athletics come in here, and you’re going down there to get hot in here with Nellie and taking your niece to her first game next weekend. And you mean the athletics should be the worst team in baseball, but who knows, right? And then they then they get the Yankees coming in here. And we’re going to be doing a crab races, by the way, the last day there, my man, Dave Sims, coming in town too. We’re going to be down fadley’s on the 13th of May, and you’re going to join me that day, because it’ll be the last game of the week there. And ravens will be OTA in and doing all whatever they’re doing. And then the Nationals come in. Interesting nationals. We go to the nationals the same weekend that they we take the Preakness down the Laurel. So we’re taking the Preakness to Laurel on the Orioles to DC somewhere. Charlie Ekman and stebbin are rolling over in their graves. But two series with the Yankees Astros athletics and I left something out. What I Marlins dude, if they start slipping and sliding and playing. In bad baseball right here, right now, they fired the manager on Preakness day. That’s why I’m getting at this as bad as it was last year, as it was at 13 and 28 whatever that awfulness was, or whatever that number was, it doesn’t smell to me like it’s going to smell a lot better two weeks in a week, a couple days from now, when the Preakness happens, we’re in Derby Week. This week, we’re going to have half the NHL eliminated by then, half the NBA eliminated by then. Two weeks from now, will the Orioles be 17 and 28 will they be 21 and 2425 well, because I know what they’re not going to be. They’re not going to be 28 and 24 they’re not going to rip off 13 of the next 16, because they’re not like, I don’t know how they would do that. So many things, we would have to be bronzing Pete Alonso to have that happen. And all the bats would have to wake up, all the arms would have to look like 92 wins. And I’m a month into this, and I’m starting to scratch my head saying, well, they don’t catch the ball, and that’s the first thing I’ll say, that they don’t catch the ball, and they don’t really play heads up ball, and they don’t really play base pass ball, so they have to play big ball, and they have to hold this together by scoring runs. I don’t know, man. I mean, I’m, I’m worried about the competition the next two weeks, and you they’re playing and saying, if you’re not feasting off of the a’s and the Marlins and the Astros and the Red Sox, good luck with the Yankees.

Luke Jones  26:29

Seven games. That’s fair. I mean, about the only thing I would push back on is, I tell you exactly how they do it. They play like the team we thought they were going to be. I mean, you, you picked them to win, what, 92 games. They have to start playing like that. Then like it’s that simple that maybe get

Nestor Aparicio  26:43

good starting pitching every night. Oh, I mean, obviously

Luke Jones  26:45

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they need to get better starting pitching, but, but we, but you can’t use like you. And I knew the defense wasn’t going to be good, right? I mean, that was never

Nestor Aparicio  26:52

part of my calculation. I start watching him kick the ball around, okay? I mean, off, that’s fine. I mean, my dad pisses me off.

Luke Jones  26:58

Look, I’m not going to sit here and defend it. I almost want to

Nestor Aparicio  27:03

like guys in Major League, your major league ball players, like I can be a great heckler. If I was out there heckling, I mean, that would be Katie Griggs and Roback. That’d be their worst nightmare. Heckle online and complete sentences. But like heckling this outfit for the for the defense, I sit here and I want to throw bricks at the TV, so and so does Palmer, by the way. I mean, Palmer watched it over the weekend, and it gets Palmer like there was a point where was it rushman, besides somebody threw the ball in the center field, and you could hear Palmer from the from the mic, oh, you know, like you, you know, he can’t, he can’t help himself, but it reminds me of my dad, you know, yeah, too.

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Luke Jones  27:46

Reminds me a little bit of my grandfather. I mean, to be honest, my dad would just go off the handle. It’s like the

Nestor Aparicio  27:55

Jerry Stiller character in Seinfeld. What are you doing out there? Why do what kind of ball players we got. And I sometimes I’ll get down to a meat cheese and the old Italian guys would yell at the television during lunch. That was a treat, because, like, it was like 10 of my dad in a room all yelling amongst themselves at the gods, the baseball gods. But this team’s defense does allow for that, and the holes in the swing allow Sure.

Luke Jones  28:19

I mean, they’ve got to play better. There’s no doubt that said, you know, the the formula for them to start doing that is got to hit the ball and you need, you need Trevor Rogers and Kyle Bradish and Boz to start looking more like you thought they were going to look. It doesn’t mean they’re going to be all stars. It doesn’t mean they’re going to be in the Cy Young voting or anything like that, but it’s got to be better than what they’ve gotten. And that just hasn’t been very good. They’ve got to hit. I mean, like Pete Alonso, it’s go time. He has a 637, ops. He’s hitting 196 look. I I had my reservations about what that deal would look like in year four and five, but a month in, you’re, like, you’re fearing, like, Chris Davis kind of stuff, right? I mean, like, and it’s a month in, right?

Nestor Aparicio  29:05

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I’m saying all the Davises, Chris Davis, Glenn Davis, you know, all like,

Luke Jones  29:11

better Dave, and he knows that, and he said that, but like, at some point you need to start doing it. I mean, we’ve, we’ve talked about gunner Henderson, and, like, gunners, but yes, gunner has been consistent, inconsistent, and is striking out too much, but gunners at least still slugging 487, Pete Alonso is slugging 336, Kobe Mayo at this point, now has a higher slugging percentage than Pete Alonso, and Kobe Mayo hasn’t been good until the last six games, so

Nestor Aparicio  29:38

we’ll see rutsman with stars in his eyes. Friday night brought back a twinkle in me a little bit to say, announcements look great. But to your point, every time they get up and they start to crawl like that, and you’re like, This is the biggest, the one that’s turning around.

Luke Jones  29:51

And this, I go back, you know me, I’m a big fan of looking at checkpoints, right? Two years ago, it was the. May Acosta’s right where you and I watched them at Yankee Stadium, and they completely embarrassed the Yankees at that point. I’m pretty sure that gave them the best record the American League, or maybe they were tied with the Yankees at that point. But we were kind of saying at that point they might be the best team in baseball. They’re they’ve looked like the best team in the American League, and we know what happened after that, I said to

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Nestor Aparicio  30:21

my wife, was the best team the Orioles have ever had with prospects. When cows are looked like he was going to hit 285 and be a 23 home run all star, when rushman looked like he was going to the Hall of Fame, when Anderson, how are we going to sign them both? Holiday was coming. Mayo was coming. Oh, Messiah was a hit. Yeah, right. I mean all of that, right? Bradish was fixed the first time before the last time, and sure, and Grayson Rodriguez was going to be storm Davis.

Luke Jones  30:47

And right? But I’ll go back to the Monday night game against Arizona, when Craig Albernaz gets hit in the face, right, and they come back from a six one deficit Jeremiah Jackson, it’s a Grand Slam, all that. And I think at that point that was one of those that felt like one of those in the foxhole moments, right where, hey, your manager, you know, he came out to the dugout to give Jackson a hug after the Grand Slam. And, you know, it was kind of a one of those galvanizing moments you’re hoping it to be right? I mean, I think every Orioles fan and even media were looking at that and saying, all right, is this when this team takes off. I mean, at that point in time, I think they had won six of seven with that victory. You know what the record is since then, four and eight, 333, ball. That’s it’s 12 games, but it’s 12 games. But the point is, and this is what’s frustrating to me, and this, this happened last year, and it happened the second half of 2024 whenever they have one of those wins where you’re ready to say, all right, there’s the turning point. There’s where they turn it around. That’s a game that that the 23 team would win. And I made that point to you that next morning that I said that felt like a 2023 win. Well, you know what? They played like 2025 since then. So that’s where I look at this. And it’s like, I’m done with looking at these wins in isolation, saying, Oh, maybe this is where it starts. You know when it starts when you win four in a row after that big win and you’ve reeled off a five game winning streak, that’s when I start to put some stock into meaningful wins, or, you know, emotional, you know, emotional lifts, or a character building victory. So that’s where you look at this thing and say, at some point in time, and it’s not yet. And you know, that’s why I said, I pushed back a little bit on the idea that, you know, that there’s no way they can start playing way better. They can. They’ve got to be better. We thought they were going to be a better team going into the year. They’ve got to start exhibiting those qualities, though, you know, it’s not going to be perfect. No, I don’t expect the defense to be any good this year. It needs to be a little bit better, though, like, it can improve incrementally, you’d like to think, but, yeah, at some point in time you are what your record says you are. And you know, they’ve hovered right around 500 you know, give or take, a game or two below. And this is, in fairness, and this is where I’ll be a little more half full look at the rest of the American League right now, the three wild card spots. And again, it’s it’s silly saying this the final few days of April, but the three wild card spots, Tampa Bay’s five games over. Detroit is one game over 500 and Texas occupying the final wild card spot at 14. And 14, the Orioles are one game back from the final wild card spot. Now that’s not anything to throw a parade over. It’s a reminder that, no, there aren’t very many teams in the American League that are playing all that well. The Yankees are the head of the class right now. So yeah, it does make things tougher in terms of the division. They’re already five games out as they enjoy the off day on Monday, but they’ve got to start playing better. And for me, it’s not even about the standings, it’s the eyeball test. Start playing like a more consistent ball club. If you do that, then I’ll feel better about it like, you know, like this, isn’t we talked about it a month ago. We were talking about how this schedule set up for a good start. And in fairness, some of the teams that they played have been better than we would have thought, right, right? You know, go from, you know, Minnesota’s really fallen off here of late, but they got off to a good start. They were playing well at the time. Pittsburgh is a team that we’ve said is at least interesting. They played. They’ve been a little more middling of late, but there’s still a few games over 500 so you never really know. But point is, and this is the point you made, the fact that the Yankees now are right around the corner seven games with the Yankees are coming up here over the next couple of weeks, that right there, you better hold your own, because if you go one in six against the Yankees, then, man, you’re going to be looking at the. That’s what I said

Nestor Aparicio  35:00

about Preakness weekend. They could go 500 the rest of the way here and there. Split this three out of two, out of three. Split, you know, get swept here. Whatever they do, they go five under against the Yankees. That start to smell like where we were, which is, oh, they’re 20 and 28 on Preakness weekend, or whatever that number would be, and we’d say not going anywhere. I mean, as my old man would say, ain’t going nowhere, yeah. I mean, low. I mean, I’m starting to think ain’t going nowhere, and I don’t want to think that way. It’s not even may 1 yet. I mean, right, this seems to be a real season. Sure, I come on.

Luke Jones  35:36

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I by no means do I think they’re going to fall off the mountain to the degree that they did last year. Because I do think they’re better, but

Nestor Aparicio  35:43

that’s not that’s a really low bar. But getting better means better starting pitching that I haven’t seen yet. Better means that Bassett picks them up, that that boss is something real, that Bradish looks like a front of the rotation guy that Rogers doesn’t. I know he doesn’t match to his sub two guy, but like these guys, need to do more than just take the ball and be a heartbeat and then the third inning. We’re wondering, when’s the bullpen getting up. I agree, but I’ll

Luke Jones  36:08

continue to say what I said to him was blue in the face. Last year, they have to hit. They’ve got to hit. Whether we agree with Mike Elias or think he’s doing a good job or not, this team was constructed to hit. Same thing last year, all these young, talented players, right? We keep using the word talent. What exactly does talent mean? Are they actually talented, or were they perceived to be talented? They’ve been perceived to be talented, right? At some point in time, like if you’re talented, then you need to start playing like it. And I question that. I question how good this group is. They need to start showing it, because they’re not out of it. Of course, they’re not. You know, losing two out of three to the Red Sox is embarrassing, as it feels in the moment, is not a disqualifier for the rest of the season. We know it’s baseball. I get it. Use all the platitudes and all the positivity that you want at some point in time, you need to start looking like a team that, to your point, is capable of reeling off 13 of 16 at some point in time they haven’t shown any level of consistency or any level of strong play across the board for more than a game or two at a time, To suggest that they’re ready to do something like that. And that’s where you look at this thing and say, Yeah, I mean, right now they’re two games under 500 and that’s fine for right now, I guess, but at some point you got to start making that jump.

Nestor Aparicio  37:34

And I don’t know bad teams would be when you make that jump, and they had, and so far,

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Luke Jones  37:40

you know, if they sweep the Astros and, you know, then they’re a Game Over 500 going into New York this weekend. Then, okay, I’ll feel, I’ll sit up in my chair a little bit, then for a series in the Bronx. But, you know, they, heaven forbid, they lose two out of three to the to the Astros too. Then you’re like, oh, man, this is this. How’s this gonna go this weekend? Well, if they lose two out of

Nestor Aparicio  38:06

three and three out of four, then we’re talking about bad, bad things this time next week. And I don’t know what, other than beating up on the Astros, right? Like, like, the next game and the next and where they

Luke Jones  38:18

are and, I mean, we just, and this goes back to my point about, you know that that come back against Arizona and what their records been, for me, like no single game or single series is a referendum, right? Good or bad? You just need to start stacking like you keep saying you believe you’re a good team, you keep saying you’re talented, all that stuff that we’ve been talking about for two years now in the same general tone. Well, then don’t it. Go out and do it like, go play well, go, go win nine of 11 and like, get to the point where you’re six or seven games over 500 again, right? Do something like that. They’re just, they’ve been very middling, right? I get it. They won six of seven, and they’re four and eight since then. I mean, yes, these seasons have pockets, and there’s, there’s an ebb and flow to it. I understand that anyone listening, I’ve been watching baseball my whole life, but we have a really, really big sample now of almost two calendar years of this team being mediocre to bad, not good to great. So at some point in time, I mean, go back and look at that 2023 team. There are far more players on that team that are long gone than guys that are still here that were really big parts of that gunner, Adley rutchman, you know, few other players here and there, but those were the two big guns that were part of that team that are still here. Like Colton cows are only had a cup of coffee that year. Kobe Mayo wasn’t part of that team. Jackson holiday wasn’t, you know, holiday hasn’t played this year. I understand that. But, like. Like you go down the list beside was still in the long in the minor leagues at that point, still. So you kind of look at what the perception was in 2023 what you and I said it, so many different people said it, man, they’re this good already, and yet, so many of the members of their young core haven’t even gotten here yet. That was the message three years ago. There was so much excitement about that notion, and it’s been all downhill since the first half of 24 and you’ve added Peter on, well, none of these

Nestor Aparicio  40:33

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guys have hit like, I mean, hit not like, hit the baseball, but like, hit like, that’s a major league player in the way we looked at Westberg a couple of years ago and say, Hey, he’s here the way the West Henderson and said he’s early, he’s young, they drafted, and young. He’s going to stick. I’d like to get to that point with holiday I like to get to that point with Westberg. I’d like to get to that point with cowser. I’d like to get to that point with mayo. It looks like we’re never going to get to that point, but curse that, right? So of all of these guys, we’re still talking about Jeremiah Jackson, yeah,

Luke Jones  41:05

yeah, it’s not good. I mean, Taylor Ward has been really good. The sad thing is, if this team doesn’t play better, and we’re talking about, you know, if things go I don’t want to say 2025 may bad. But if it’s underwhelming, Taylor wards are going to be a pending free agent, right? I mean, what are you going to do there? You know, to me, if this team is not firing and playing well, and you get into June and July and they’re under 500 like, what do you do at that point? And we’ll have plenty of time to talk about that. I’m just kind of leaving you with that thought, what do you do at that point? Do at that point, you know, are you going to continue to maintain the status quo? Meaning, with Mike Elias or with this young core of players? Where do you get to a point where it’s like, no, we’re not just trading off the pending free agents. Maybe we need to trade a couple of these young guys that we just thought were going to be big parts of what we do, and they’re not, I don’t know. I they’ve got to start playing better.

Nestor Aparicio  42:05

Well that you’re fired in any this organization, of course, but

Luke Jones  42:09

yeah, I don’t disagree. But this weekend was, these guys should be embarrassed to lose two out of three to a team that just fired its manager in the midst of it. Players are unhappy. You see the comments. I mean, you know Boston, I think the general consensus there is, you’re hanging Alex Cora out to dry, and you’re making him take fall on the sword, compared to the rosters that Craig Breslow has put together and what they’ve done, and trading away Devers and not resigning Bregman and all that and and yet, all that being said, and how, like a disaster start for Brian bail on Friday night and all that, you just lost two out of three with your number one and your number two starter going on Saturday and Sunday. It’s not, not good that that was even gave

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Nestor Aparicio  42:54

away those slick hockey jerseys. They did.

Luke Jones  42:57

Those are great jerseys, I will say. I mean, like with the caps, you know, kind of the looks a little bit like the, you know, the that that was a sharp giveaway, I’ll say, but man, the play on the field Saturday and Sunday. Pu these guys should, these guys should have felt a little bit of embarrassed on Sunday night. I hope they did when they went home, because that was not good enough over the weekend. You got to win. You need to at least win that series when you won in convincing fashion Friday night, and then that team goes on to fire its manager 24 hours later.

Nestor Aparicio  43:24

Come on now. He’s Luke Jones. He’s Baltimore, Luke. We have our insights on all things NFL draft and the Ravens pick me up over the weekend. You can find all that out at Baltimore positive. We’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour on Friday at Pizza John’s in Essex. I’m looking forward to some french fries and gravy proper. Then we’re going to be at Planet Fitness in Timonium next week on the seventh working it off 13th, where it fades at Lexington market. And finally, I can say the fishmonger’s daughter, this close to getting to where it needs to be. I had a little sneak preview meal last week there in Catonsville. We will be there on the 21st of May. That’s Thursday afternoon. Looking forward to that. That’s after the Preakness. I am talking about the race and Churchill and all that stuff. I’m chasing Dick Girardi down this week. I got Jamie Moyer coming on the program this week, so I’m really excited about talking to pitching with one of the young old timers of my era as well. So we’re gonna try to have a little bit of fun around here. The Astros are in town. Luke’s at the ballpark. The Ravens have 11 new players. More than that, once you get out of the free agent market, we are W NST AM, 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. Stay with us.