Having watched Corbin Burnes look the part of a Number One starter last season, Luke Jones and Nestor look ahead to whatever Mike Elias will need to do to find the kind of performances that the Red Sox newest ace Garrett Crochet delivered on Wednesday night against the Orioles at Camden Yards. No offense, Zach Eflin, but the Birds still have some work to do on the front of the rotation. And that will define this season by October’s end…
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent game against the Red Sox, highlighting Garrett Crochet’s career-high eight shutout innings and eight strikeouts. They noted the Orioles’ offensive struggles, with only three hits and one runner in scoring position. They also debated the Orioles’ lack of top-tier pitching prospects, contrasting it with the Red Sox’s trade for Crochet. Jones criticized the Orioles’ drafting and development of pitchers, noting only two top-15 prospects. They discussed the financial constraints and strategic decisions affecting the team’s long-term success, including potential player extensions and the need for significant pitching improvements.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Orioles, pitching, Garrett Crochet, Zach Eflin, Red Sox, trade, prospects, rotation, Baltimore, NFL Draft, Maryland crab cake tour, player development, salary cap, extensions, playoffs.
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We are positively getting back out onto the road with the Orioles of the Kansas City and Arizona. We’re going to be talking baseball here soon. We’re also going to have a lot of football around here as we get ready for the NFL Draft. And next week, we will get the Maryland crab cake tour rocking again. We’re going to be at Costas in on Friday. Next Friday, that is the 11th, we will have a handful of magic eight ball scratch offs left. I’m going to move into a another scratch off realm. As we get going here, maybe we go back to the future for all I know, think about Huey Lewis. I tell you what, the Orioles went back in future, and Neal ace on Wednesday night. Neal ace every day at this point. Zach leftland. Nice effort. Not nice enough. Luke was at the ballpark on Wednesday night as our accredited media member here at W NSD, uh, he’ll be back at the ballpark at 1pm uh, weather withstanding, sounds like it’s going to be a warm, cloudy day, and we’re going to talk a little Terps in this thing before it’s all over with too. But Luke Corbin burns, where have you gone? That’s all I can say, right? And
Luke Jones 01:07
Garrett crochet, you’ve gone to the other socks. The team that’s not historically terrible. And Hey, boss is a career high eight shutout innings and eight strikeouts. Orioles had three hits against him, or, I guess it was four hits and had one runner in scoring position. I mean, just did not amount much off offense. What’s whatsoever? Well, tough
Nestor Aparicio 01:32
lefty, first off, you have no Anderson, you have no cows, or you wouldn’t have played him anyway, right? Yeah, or maybe not. I mean,
Luke Jones 01:37
maybe cows are in place of Mullins, but either way, right? I mean, look, most teams aren’t going to match up very well against Garrett crochet. It’s why the Red Sox made the trade that they did, and they just gave him a lucrative contract extension. I mean, he’s the talent is there. I mean, we saw that last year with him breaking out with the White Sox, who were otherwise historically terrible, but he was really, really good. You know, the questions are just workload him become, you know, him going from reliever to starter, like all of that. You know, all the questions we have about every young pitcher. But it didn’t phase him on it didn’t phase him on Wednesday night, he was excellent. The Orioles really wasn’t until maybe the sixth inning that they even hit a ball hard. So there just wasn’t a whole lot to speak of. There a role as Chapman comes in and slams the door in the ninth inning, I hear he’s a nice guy, he’s a good citizen, he’s still, he can still pitch, though, but, yeah, but you know, Zach eflint, they’re not a zero tolerance organization. No, they are not. But Zach efland, I mean, he wasn’t bad. I can think of three pitches he’d like to have back over six innings. You know, he was he pitched. That’s the kind of effort you would think most nights will be good enough for the Orioles to have a great chance to win. But when you’re going up against a Garrett crochet, who’s throwing the way that he did on Wednesday night. The Orioles, yeah, three. Nothing. Might as well have been 10 nothing at that point in time. Let’s
Nestor Aparicio 03:06
talk about crochet for just a minute. What would the Orioles have needed to do to make that happen? I mean, you know, when I see that guy, I say, Okay, what would that have cost that Corbin burns wouldn’t have cost that Zach Eflin and and listen, man, anytime I put these broadcasts on, they make me want to vomit. I mean, I start again. And Katie Griggs is selling cupcakes and whatever they’re doing, and the $5 beers, and they’re doing all of that. And I think to myself, they don’t have enough pitching. Ben McDonald and Jim Palmer are watching this thing happen. And I just think to myself, what, what could the Orioles have done to make that happen? And they praised the Zach Eflin move. Palmer said something like the best move they made all last year, yeah, because they knew bird Burns was unsignable, right? They know things we don’t know. They knew in August. We know in August that signing Burns is going to cost a lot of money, and there would be competition for it if his arm didn’t fall off, because in at one point in July and August, you’re worried about him last year. But a guy like crochet available for the Orioles. Yours could have made that move. What would would that look like westburg to you? What would that look like to you
Luke Jones 04:09
dealing? I don’t think it’s gonna be westburg. I mean, you look at what the White Sox got. It was four minor leaguers. You know, Braden Montgomery was in that deal. He’s one of their best prospects. Now, I mean, we’ve talked about this, you know, the complication with the Orioles is, and I don’t say this to excuse them, because you have to make moves. You have to have proper pitching. I mean, my biggest criticism of Mike Elias has been,
Nestor Aparicio 04:36
you know, what about the pitching? They haven’t drafted the pitching, right? Yeah,
Luke Jones 04:39
you haven’t drafted it. You you’ve developed it some guys here. I mean, you know Kyle Bradish, I give them credit. They developed Kyle Bradish, right? I mean, you know when, when Bradish was in the Bundy deal, I was gonna say, but he was from another organization. So, you know, there was at least a baseline there. But, you know, I think what the problem that they’ve run into? And look Ken Rosenthal, spoken on this, you know, Jeff has and some. Some of the most plugged in national ball writers have talked about this. When you have the prospects at the top of your system, the way that the Orioles have had the last few years, teams tend to want you to pay a premium, because you can pay a premium, rather than, you know, what a team that might have. I don’t want to say that Red Sox had a bad system, because they don’t. I mean in the Red Sox the Red Sox have lots of good young players, but they weren’t giving up Jackson holiday for Right? Exactly, you know, they didn’t have the number one prospect in baseball, and they didn’t have to give up the number one prospect in baseball. Whereas it, you know, we’ve seen this, you know, with some of the scuttlebutt with cease over the last couple years, you know, with crochet, different different pictures that have even scoopable who might have been available at one point last Yeah. I mean, whether he really was or not, it’s almost like they look at the Orioles and say, Well, you you have the brand new Ferrari. We want the Ferrari. But
Nestor Aparicio 05:52
as an Oriole fan, I feel like we’re the single guy at the party that’s always looking for the prettier girl, because we don’t have it. And like they’re always, we’re going to be talking about someone else’s picture now, it’s the kid in Florida, right? Like we’re always going to be talking about somebody else’s picture right now, it began last year when Bradish went down and means wasn’t going to make it like all that, that, that they coveted Corbin burns, right? And they went and got Corbin burns. Then they needed more, and they went and got effluent right there. Now they need more. I mean, I’m sitting it’s April 3, and I’m sitting here and I’m like, they need something like that if they’re gonna win a World Series before the end of the year. I’m not panicked. I mean, all of you were more panicked. I mean, Viviano, Everybody I talked to is like, they didn’t do enough. They didn’t do enough. They didn’t do enough. Well, it’s April 3. They didn’t do enough. They just got beaten by a number one starter that maybe they could have had. And now I have to say, All right, so what are they going to give up when it comes time to get I mean, are they going to get another Zach Eflin? Right? They’re going to get another two, another three that that that you and I may sign off on that in July, if Grayson Rodriguez is back and is okay, but we’re not playing games here anymore, dude, I’m 34 years into doing this every day, and we’re three days into the baseball season, and there’s a real season. We haven’t had a lot of those. We haven’t had a lot of grown up conversations around here over the years, but this is I just have to ask out loud, what would it take to get him? And now here we are again, in a position where we’re gonna have to go get another him if you’re going to win a World Series, Zach Effen ain’t going to be your number one, and Sugano is going to be your two, or whatever. However you’re going to call it when it comes time to pitch in games one, two and three in the playoffs. And I know you’ll say, hey, playoffs more relief pitching. They’re going to need more of that too. And you’ve, you know, you’ve already spent Mr. Rubenstein’s money on relief pitchers. You did that a couple of weeks ago when Kittredge went down. So we they’re gonna be dealing and wheeling, and in the meantime, they’re not two and two and three and three and four and four and five and five. You know, at some point they’re gonna need to put some padding, and it’ll look like a playoff team, even before you worry about the pitching, right?
Luke Jones 07:57
And look, everyone gets caught up on a number one. There are only so many number ones, so I don’t even necessarily the Rangers didn’t have a true number one. Their true number one was, was on the shelf two years ago. I mean, Jacob deGrom had gotten Tommy John surgery last year. The Dodgers, while we thought, think about the Dodgers as spending all this money, think back to what the rotation looked like last October. There. There wasn’t a bona fide number one ace in that group. I mean, they were, you know, Jack Flaherty. I mean, you know, he’s a rental, right? I mean, the Orioles have been there. It didn’t work out as well for them, but that said yes, they’re going to need another at a minimum, a guy that you’re absolutely going to say yes, he’s going to start a playoff game for us. We’re going to feel good about him, right in the way that, you know, even if it is, even if the baseline is another Zach Eflin, right? But they
Nestor Aparicio 08:48
also get into a point, and this is where lock and forward becomes a maniac, where they’ll look at Sam pasayo, hitting 321 at Norfolk and having 20 home runs, and say you’re not touching him. You know, if any of those guys, come on if, if kersnat starts hitting the ball looking like a big leaguer, I don’t know they they make those guys a little more untouchable. I’m not saying it’s wrong. I’m just saying they need pitching. As you go back to they need pitching, you say they don’t draft pitching, you beat Elias up about not drafting pitching. The World beats them up about not spending enough money in the off season on pitching, and they spent a ton. I just we’re in the season now, and what they have is not good enough. And I know that. You know that the people know that there’s my wrestling piece. We’ll get into that in a minute. But we know when we identify what crochet is, get through in October without that, try to get through a season without that. They had it last year. It’s why they’re as good as they were last year. Yeah, and they had it the year before, really, with Bradish in a number sense, they had it the year before. But, but to
Luke Jones 09:49
answer your original questions, so the Red Sox traded four pieces to Chicago, right? You know the headliner was COVID. Teal. He is a catcher at, I think, triple A. He is considered the number 31 prospect in baseball. So you’re talking about someone not as good as beside, you know. So if you want to use a very basic comp, okay, you could have traded Messiah for him, the other top 100 prospect that they traded. I’ve mentioned already, Braden Montgomery, who’s an outfielder. He is young, a little bit on on the younger side. He’s 21 according to MLB pipeline. His estimated arrival could be 2027 He’s the number 53 prospect in baseball. And as I mentioned to you, you kind of look at the Orioles right now. As far as where they stand with their prospects, they have two top 15 guys right in beside oh and mayo, and then there’s more of a gap, right? It’s not to say that Enrique Bradfield and some other guys they’ve drafted over the last two drafts won’t be good prospects, but there isn’t, there isn’t anyone that’s, you know, widely regarded as, oh, the number 40 prospect.
Nestor Aparicio 11:06
Well, where they were 24 months ago, everybody was pipelined. Then right, holiday was pipeline. Henderson was pipeline, Adley Russ was pipeline two years ago. So, like, they’re all here now, and that’s why they’re winning games, right, literally, but sure, pitching Wise, who do they have in a top 100 a pitching pipeline?
Luke Jones 11:26
I mean, the Orioles, no one, no one. I mean, it’s as far as top 100 that’s not to say they don’t have any arms at all that aren’t at least interesting. But, you know, I mean, we saw Chase McDermott last year. You know, does does he profile as maybe he becomes a number five starter. Maybe he’s a bullpen arm.
Nestor Aparicio 11:46
You know about povidge before? You like him. I’ve said this.
Luke Jones 11:49
I still think there’s a good pitcher somewhere in Kate povidh. I think there’s the potential for a pretty good pitcher somewhere in Kate povidge. I mean, you don’t strike out eight Red Sox hitters on opening day, even with the pitch count being what it was, and and sit there and say, well, this kid doesn’t have any ability, right? I mean, I don’t feel that way at all. Problem is, you need them to figure that out way more sooner than later, just because of the current state of their rotation. But you know, you kind of look at guys that they have and, you know, they’re guys that maybe 2627 2028 you know, there’s some interesting arms when you kind of go down there, top 30 list, depending on which source you want to look at. But there’s no one that screams, oh, wow, that guy’s going to be a difference maker sooner than later. I mean, it’s a bunch of guys that, you know, interesting arms, but no one I can sit here with any conviction and say, Yeah, that guy will be in their rotation three years from now. And that’s where, that’s kind of where my criticism lies with, not, not that Michael is has done a poor job overall. I mean, this team’s, you know, we’ve talked about it, they’ve won 192 games over the last two years. I mean, tell me the last time the Orioles did that. You know, you have to go back a really long time. But as they’re at this point now, they’re completely post rebuild. They’ve been to the playoffs twice. They have a team, position talent wise, that you really like, even if it’s not perfect. I mean, they’re not going to score eight runs every single night. It’s baseball. So you know, you’re going to have nights like what we saw Wednesday night. But when you do look at the pitching and, and, you know, you look at how they’ve addressed pitching, you know, largely with just these one year deals, Eflin being a trade with an extra year attached to it, you just look at that and say, you know, there, there’s only so much of a ceiling on that, you know, they’ve gone for the high floor kind of guys, as I’ve said to You, maybe trying to build a rotation to survive rather than thrive. You’d like to do both, right? You’d like to have a rotation that has a little more upside and can last. It’s not easy. There’s pitch there are pitching injuries around baseball. I mean, look what happened to the Yankees before the season even started, and how that changed, how they’re perceived. You know, they went from being the clear cut favorite in the Al east to what we all think now is much more of a up for grabs, kind of division where four, maybe all five, teams have at least a somewhat of a puncher’s chance. So you know, it’s the nature of the beast. I’ll continue to remind that for as much as we might look at their pitching and have some questions, there are lots of other teams around baseball, including contenders, where you ask, Will they hit enough? Whereas you hope for the Orioles Wednesday night, while not withstanding and this kind of choppy start that they’ve
Nestor Aparicio 14:30
had not withstanding, you hope that that’s not going to be an issue, that it’s going to be more of a strength for them. By the way, Wednesday night felt like a game one playoff matchup from the last two years of playoffs, where, and I know they didn’t have Henderson, they didn’t have a couple of hitters, and obviously, couch was not around anymore, but it, it felt like could that their pitching is too good.
Luke Jones 14:49
You know, it could be. I mean, I’m not going to sit here and say that Garrett crochet, you know, at the Red Sox had the kind of year that they’re fully capable of having. And you. Perhaps the biggest development, development for them Wednesday night was not even crochet. It was Raphael Devers, actually looking somewhat like Raphael Devers again, after just almost like a late career. Chris Davis start, you know, striking out just about every time he was going to the plate. So but look the Red Sox. They’re intriguing. I think you look at where they are now, with their young talent, with what they’ve done with Bregman crochet, and you look at them, they’ve certainly closed the gap with the Yankees and the Orioles as the division hierarchy kind of shapes up on paper. Now, how healthy will everyone stay? You know, the Red Sox have had, you know, there’s some questions about, you know, what their bullpen will look like, and, you know, again, how everything meshes. I mean, the, you know, the Devers thing was messy during spring training, but you know, really, for him, it’s being healthy. You know, he missed most of the spring, and he got off to such a bad start. And you’re talking about the guy that you’re he’s the guy you actually gave money to when you didn’t give money to Mookie Betts and other guys. So but you know, yeah, when you have a crochet and, you know, the questions are still there for any pitcher, no matter how much you like him, no matter what he looks like on paper, whatever the stats are, how much money he’s making, there’s still the question about his durability. And I did find it interesting that he went a career high eight innings two days. You know what? One day after he got the lucrative contract extension, I expected him to get that. I mean, the Red Sox weren’t going to trade them, trade for minor leaguers and then not pay him, especially considering the criticism that they’ve been under the last few years with not really spending money. But is he going to hold up, you know? I mean, that’s the big question for him. I mean, the that was the big question for everyone, what you know whether they were going to acquire him at the trade deadline? Because, you know, it was kind of uncharted territory for this guy to go from relieving the starting and, you know, not really have too much of a restrictor played on him in the way that you see pitchers do that. You know, teams do that with pitchers today, so it’ll be fascinating. But all that being said, all that risk being acknowledged, he He absolutely has the stuff looking like a number one starter. And you know, there aren’t 30 of them in baseball. We know that. You know, there are maybe 10, maybe, you know, depending, you know, if you
Nestor Aparicio 17:25
lower your Well, when you start taking the garret Coles out, and you start taking the bradishes out, and you start, you know, when guys start getting hurt, and then, you know guys that have Strider last year, right?
Luke Jones 17:36
Sure, no, I mean, and that’s the thing, I mean, Garrett Cole’s out of the picture this year. I mean Spencer strut, you know, look at the Braves right now. They’re an absolute mess. You know, jerks and pro far popped for peds, and Reinaldo Lopez is hurt now. And, you know, Striders still not back yet, which wasn’t unexpected, but you know, they’re having all kinds of issues in there. They’re a team that was projected to have a higher wind total than the Orioles, and one of the teams in the NL that people thought might actually have a chance to challenge adults. I
Nestor Aparicio 18:02
also let Freddie Freeman get away, right? I mean, they’re a generational player. Go right, but,
Luke Jones 18:06
but they’re, you know, the Braves are a team that a lot of Orioles fans have pointed to in terms of, look how many guys they’ve extended. And it’s also interesting you look at how many young players they’ve extended, and it’s easy to look at someone like Acuna injuries, you know, injuries aside, but you look at some of the deals they’ve done, there’s a couple of those. I look at them and say, Hmm, I wonder if they if they could go back and do it all again, if they’d still do it. So, you know, even that there’s, you know, you’re, you’re, there’s always some risk involved. I mean, the Orioles could announce an extension for Jackson holiday later today or tomorrow or this weekend, and everyone would be really excited about it, but, and let me be clear, I would be in favor of that. I’m not. This is not me saying no to that, but you’re also talking about someone who has well under a year of Major League experience, who it’s been choppy at best, right? And I’d fully expect Jackson
Nestor Aparicio 18:58
million dollars right now, how do you do that?
Luke Jones 19:02
Oh, I absolutely would do it, but there’s, there’s still some inherent risk involved in that. Now, it’s not the same risk as giving someone $700 million or giving a pitcher $250 million but, but, but this is part of it. I mean, at some point in time you do look at Mike Elias and look, I don’t think the Orioles are ever going to be all in. I use with air quotes in the way that you think about, you know, we talked about this in the NFL, like, do the Ravens ever truly go all in with the way that they try to build their roster? No, they they try to, but they
Nestor Aparicio 19:38
have a salary cap. Baseball doesn’t, which is both sides of this, because if understand, Henderson’s gonna get 600 million, he might be getting that from the Mets or the Cubs, or somebody that’s spending that kind of money at that moment that has it, because there’s 1520, franchises that don’t have it
Luke Jones 19:52
and can’t do it, right, but, but that’s, you know, whether you have a salary capital or you just have a a finite revenue stream. That, frankly, the Dodgers don’t. You know the Dodgers. There’s a limit to it at some point in time, but not to save us the Orioles, right?
Nestor Aparicio 20:08
Not the question you ask a 74 year old owner when you have them, you know, on the cover of your magazine, when you get together with them, you ask him what he’s going to spend and and like that, like because he’s going to have to be a sugar daddy. Yeah? Katie Griggs knows that. I know that the people know that. Ken Rosenthal knows that. Like, did you see the ballpark on Wednesday? I didn’t, because they didn’t give me a press pass. They had all sorts of empty seats in their press box, but they don’t have room for me. They don’t have plenty room for everybody else. Where is the revenue coming from for this? So at every point they’re going to play with one hand tied behind their back, because they’re the Baltimore Orioles, because of what Mr. Angelo said to me 28 years ago, which is, and there’s a team in Washington, or as a team, we don’t believe there should be a team in Washington and and now that there is, you’re either going to be a sugar daddy or if you’re going to run it not on nut I saw what nut on nut looked like, and the Red Sox fans were in there on Wednesday night, and $5 beers, and people we spent two hours before the game talking about, can I get the games? How much is it going to cost me to get the games, and all of that stuff. This is where the crochets and the best players and what they’re going to cost in the future. Now that Rubenstein is here, whether you’re going to be philanthropic in regard to the way you run the team, giving money to baseball players to make the team better, to get people there, because I’m not sure they’re ever going to measure up financially. To be in the conversation we talk about with the Red Sox and the Yankees. I’ve seen the Red Sox and the Yankees over the last 30 years. I’ve been to their stadiums. I’ve been to their areas. I know what the cities look like. I know what the towns look like. I know what the money looks like. I know what the corporate structure looks like. It ain’t happening here. So unless Mr. Moneybags is going to be philanthropic and charitable and go in over his skis, he’s a money guy, dude. He’s a guy that’s been counted his way to being a billionaire. I don’t think he’s a generous man, like in a general sense. You know what I mean? I don’t feel like he’s just going to be generous about this. But there is the point where the thing’s going to sell for three and a half billion at some point, and he goes 100 million over his skis for six years, eight years until he’s 85 that they could win, and he could do the little Tom Benson dance that he wants to do on bobblehead night. He could have a bobblehead with him holding the trophy. That’s what he really wants to do, and that’s and there’s nothing wrong with that, right? There isn’t. And look, when you look at the teams that you know, and let’s throw the Dodgers out for a second, right? Throw the Dodgers and the Yankees. And
Luke Jones 22:41
I’m trying to, you know, just throw those two out for right? Well,
Nestor Aparicio 22:44
the clubs would have the money. There are teams that would have the money if they didn’t pocket it, yeah.
Luke Jones 22:48
I mean, you know, I mean, Philadelphia has had a very, very high payroll, you know, do they have the same revenue stream as the Dodgers? Probably not quite at that level, but with all these teams, and this is even when you get into the kind of territory where I’m hoping the Orioles can get, you know, I’ve mentioned the Cardinals, I’ve cited that. I’ve cited them, you know, if they have something that they build and sustain, can they be a top 12 kind of payroll? You know, you know, where you’re flirting with the top third of the league. Whereas, to me, that kind of payroll, you can probably do a couple extensions. Now, you’re not gonna be able to extend six guys, right? You’re not gonna be able to extend everyone you have doing what the Padres have done, you know, be selective, you know, I mean, the Padres have had Manny Machado and, you know, they’ve, they’ve been able to extend and make some other moves. And, you know, I
Nestor Aparicio 23:36
Well, tack like the greatest player on earth for a minute, right? Sure, sure. So, so that’s where I look at this
Luke Jones 23:41
thing, and say, okay, you know, if not, but if not, now, when right? Because, and look, we’ve talked about it. If you’re a Boris client, it’s, it’s more difficult. Well, that’s the first conversation we have, sure, right? At the same time, I also, I also kind of loathe the idea that we just put everything on the agent. Because who hires the agent? The agent works for the player. So at some point in time, you could talk all you want, Boris. Boris, Boris,
Nestor Aparicio 24:07
I don’t know that. It’s gunner Henderson’s life goal to be an Oriole for life. He sees Cali wave storm and all that, and then he goes and he sees Aaron judge playing New York, making 50 times the amount of money, and saying, you know, I mean, he’s a kid from Alabama. I don’t maybe he wants to be a brave one. I don’t know what what he wants to be when he grows up, but like he he’s under no thought to give anybody a discount or sign up now, and Boris will tell him that. And Boris will say, be patient. The same way that if you think they could give Jackson holiday 100 million right now that his daddy, who already has 500 million, would say, Yeah, you know, hang in there, kid. Don’t worry about it. You know, yeah, it’s different when you got a rich daddy too. Sure, you and I didn’t have rich daddies. You know, the first 20 million would have sounded like a lot to us. Oh, no question. Well, and I think that’s why you know some of these players you do see, you know guys that are, you know, we’ve seen guys extended for not 400 million. Dollars or anything absurd. But we’ve seen guys sign these kind of deals before they even make their major Adam Jones and Marquez signed up for money around here before they could have, should have needed to. I mean, they wanted to be here. They bought in,
Luke Jones 25:11
but Jones was toward the end. Though, remember, I mean, that was Jones was not far away from free agency at that point, but your point’s well taken. And again,
Nestor Aparicio 25:19
you kind of got more for the Yankees at that moment, right? I mean, sure, if you hit the right, if you wanted to leave you liked it here. Look, that’s where we look at this thing. And a wife here. He’s got a light he likes it here now, plus Adam Jones doesn’t like me, but I like him a lot. And
Luke Jones 25:31
this is where I say gunner, you know, with someone like gunner Henderson. Look, I’m not going to sit here and say gunner Henderson absolutely does want to be an Oriole long term, or absolutely does not. I’m guessing the truth is somewhere in the middle there where he’d say, you know, let’s see how this plays out here in Baltimore every year. Let’s go on some dates. That’s what guys do. Let’s see what. Let’s see what we do here. Do we win? You know what? What’s the roster look like two years from now? Three years from now, all of that, with all these factors. There’s there it’s it’s rarely just one thing. If it is, it is money, fully acknowledging that. But there are plenty of guys that aren’t necessarily going to take every last cent from the absolute highest bidder. It might be the second highest bidder. If there are other three other variables that appeal to them about, you know, whether it’s staying put, going somewhere geographically, like Corbin burns, you know, in Arizona is kind of a dream scenario for him, you know, with his family and wanting to be on the West Coast and, you know, that kind of just the stars aligned for him in that way. So, you know, you just, you have to let it play out in that way. And it is frustrating, because you’d like to think the Orioles could get one of these done, you know, one of these extensions done that, you know, it’s not going to be a Soto deal, you know. I mean, Gunner Henderson, the only guy that they currently have that would even, you know, kind of be not 700 million but, you know, I don’t know, Gunner might be a $400 million player before it’s all said and done, you know, and again, I’m projecting out four years from now. But you know, you’d like to think, you know, you look at some of these deals that have been signed this past week where you’re talking about, like, a nine year, 100 million dollar deal, you buy out the first couple years of free agency for a young player. You know, hypothetically, Jackson holiday feels like he would be that guy, but you bring up a great point, because Matt Holliday has made a bunch of money, and Jackson holiday has not wanted for anything growing up. And his dad’s probably saying, you know, you don’t really need to do that. Or maybe the Oreos haven’t even approached him about that. I mean, again, we don’t really know, but it is frustrating because you see, even teams that aren’t big market teams are able to do these deals from time to time, and you’d feel a lot better about just the the big picture for the Orioles if they could get one of those done, you know, even if it was just buying out a couple years of free agency for one of their young players. But it hasn’t happened to this point. You know, it’s not something worth ruining your enjoyment of the 2025 season, but it does make you wonder, in a big picture, you know, if not now, when, as it pertains to these guys or, and I don’t say this to be too much of a Debbie Downer, but it’s going to come across that way, or you are going to be a lot like the Tampa Bay Rays, and you’re going to have a churn and look, Tampa Bay’s still made a lot of playoff runs, and they’ve been to a couple World Series over the last 15 years.
Nestor Aparicio 28:23
However, more owners do that’s not what 74 year old guy understood.
Luke Jones 28:28
I’m just, I’m laying out the scenarios, though, as far as what the range of outcomes is, and you know, you have, you have a baseball ops department that look they they think highly of what they do, and they have rebuilt this thing, and they have taken this organization a very long way as it pertains to player development, international market presence, all those different things. But they also may be viewing it through the lens of we’ll continue to show how smart we are, and we can do this, and we and we can continue to sustain something without spending 200 plus million dollars a year. There could be some of that going on. You know, people have speculated that I don’t know that, but you know, until we see, you know, unless we have a crystal ball, all we can do is kind of map out, you know, these different scenarios, and kind of imagine how it’s going to work. But you know, until they have anyone sign long term until they sign any long term deals beyond a three year 49.5 for Tyler O’Neill that has a year one opt out. You know, this is kind of all we have to go off of these short term commitments and just relying on guys with club control, which, let’s face it, has taken them quite far when it comes to the regular season. But yeah, people are wondering, okay, what’s the next step in terms of getting to the next level in October, but also sustaining this thing? Understanding you hope you’re not going to be picking in the top five anytime soon again. So yeah, it is more challenging to replenish that, that talent pipeline. Luke
Nestor Aparicio 29:55
Jones is here. He Baltimore, Luke, He will be covering the Orioles today, tomorrow, every day into. The future. I My name is Nestor. I will be locked out today, tomorrow and into the future. So enjoy those hot dogs and popcorn at the ballpark. I’ll be writing a letter to Katie Griggs, dear. Katie Griggs is coming your way out of Baltimore. Positive. We’re gonna have something to say about the chirps and Buzz Williams and just the whole mess. At some point we’re also talking football. Luke and I did a long, long piece on the NFL owners meetings and the Ravens intentions and their draft days coming up. Have they announced the liar’s launching yet? We got one yet. There no
Luke Jones 30:30
announcement I’ve heard. It’s more towards the middle of the month, though, that was the last I heard. So we’re still at least a week and a half out on that, from what I’ve heard. But nothing official. You know, they they haven’t sent anything out yet. All
Nestor Aparicio 30:41
right, you are listening to the original April Fool. That’s me. He’s Luke Jones. You can find us both out on the interwebs, and of course, at Baltimore positive, I’m Nestor. He’s Luke. We are wnst am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive, even when the Orioles are out in Kansas City and Arizona. You.
