Injuries and outfield defense start to create bigger problems for Orioles

It was Nestor who took to Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Wednesday afternoon with some observations about the new “look” of the ballpark and a day when all of the 42s of Jackie Robinson needed a scorecard to see who was making the errors that cost them the game. Luke Jones discusses the outfield defense and injury problems as Cleveland is next up for the Birds as .500 feels about right.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent performance, highlighting defensive issues and injuries. They noted the poor outfield defense, particularly the struggles of players like Weston Wilson and Blaze Alexander. The team’s record stands at 9-9, despite key injuries to players like Eflin and Mountcastle. Jones emphasized the importance of Colton Cowser’s defensive contributions. The bullpen has performed well, with notable contributions from Rico Garcia, Anthony Nunez, and Ryan Helsley. Despite initial optimism, both expressed concerns about the team’s ability to win 92 games due to ongoing injuries and defensive shortcomings.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Correct the reported count of playoff games the Orioles have won since 2006 on-air or in related materials.

Orioles Outfield Defense and Injury Problems

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Orioles’ recent home stand, highlighting the injury to Albernaz and the Grand Slam hit by Jeremiah Jackson.
• Luke Jones mentions the positives from the series, including Jeremiah Jackson’s performance, but notes the overall series loss.
• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the outfield defense, particularly the struggles of players like Weston Wilson and Blaze Alexander.
• Nestor Aparicio shares his experience at the ballpark, including the lack of information on the new scoreboard and the challenges of identifying players.

Defensive Challenges and Player Performance

• Luke Jones emphasizes the poor outfield defense, noting that even regular players like Colton Cowser have struggled.
• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the lack of a plus defender on the team, with Cowser being the best option currently.
• Luke Jones highlights the impact of injuries on the lineup, particularly the absence of key players like Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle.
• Nestor Aparicio expresses concern about the team’s overall performance, including the pitching and bullpen, and the impact of injuries on the rotation.

Impact of Injuries on Team Performance

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the impact of injuries on key players like Eflin and the bullpen.
• Luke Jones mentions the encouraging performance of the bullpen despite the injuries, with players like Rico Garcia and Anthony Nunez standing out.
• Nestor Aparicio expresses concern about the team’s ability to win 92 games with the current state of the roster and the ongoing injuries.
• Luke Jones acknowledges the challenges but remains somewhat optimistic, noting the team’s current record and the potential for improvement.

Future Outlook and Defensive Improvements

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the need for defensive improvements, particularly in the outfield.
• Luke Jones suggests that Cowser should be playing more regularly to improve the defense.
• Nestor Aparicio expresses concern about the team’s ability to win without key players like Holt and Westburg.
• Luke Jones emphasizes the importance of getting healthy players back and the potential for the bullpen to continue performing well.

Overall Concerns and Future Plans

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the overall concerns about the team’s performance and the impact of injuries.
• Luke Jones mentions the potential for reinforcements like Enrique Bradfield to help improve the defense.
• Nestor Aparicio expresses concern about the team’s ability to win playoff games and the impact of poor defense.
• Luke Jones remains somewhat optimistic, noting the team’s current record and the potential for improvement as players return from injuries.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles outfield defense, injury problems, Camden Yards, bullpen performance, Colton Cowser, Jeremiah Jackson, Adley Rutschman, Kyle Bradish, Taylor Ward, Enrique Bradfield, bullpen depth, defensive metrics, pitching rotation, team injuries, playoff prospects.

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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 you in through the good weather to get to the bad weather, to get to the draft next week. We’re doing all of this stuff around and we’re gonna be talking plenty of NFL. If you are on the wnst tech service, you’ll get the breaking news first brought to you by cold roofing and Gordian energy, and I am out doing crabs. I wear my fadleys gear because we’re actually going back to fadeleys on May 13 for the Preakness crab races. I will have these Maryland treasures scratch offs to give away. We’re going to be at faidley’s this week. Or, excuse me, we’re going to be at Costas this week, Koco’s next Thursday. The 23rd we’re going to be pizza John’s on May 1, and then may 7, we go to Planet Fitness and Timonium, looking forward to that. Then on the 13th, back downtown at faidleys, all are brought to you by GBMC. Friday, I am walking a mile in their shoes. Meet me over at South Chapman and Towson free to do make a donation for the Safe Program. Take care of the folks over there that are taking care of women, children and men who’ve been sexually abused, stuff we don’t talk about in this community, but we have a great treatment center right here at GBMC, and that’s Friday. Also our friends at Farnham and Dermer who keep me going with my plumbing and my HVAC. And I invited Zach Dermer to the game. By the way, thank thanks to Wendy Bron Bron fine and the curio and foreign daughter team for inviting me to the ballpark Wednesday with a couple of my drinking buddies and resig and we had a good time in the heat of the battle, but far in the Dermer will keep you cool in the heat. Good thing, my air conditioning was working in the car on the way out of there. Camden Yards, Luke, I went to the game with resig and with John Allen, my rock star buddy from Charm City devils and stone stone horses, and they’re playing next week too. They’re playing over at the auto bar next week. So go see that’s a free show as well. With 98 rock and my buddy Brian Poole, we went to seventh grade together. I’ve known him my whole life. Big baseball fan, and we got plopped down there right at, you know that at the national anthem. And it was, you know, pushing 8688 most of the afternoon, and there wasn’t a clap in the sky. Toasty, yeah, I don’t know. Man, my voice is even you know, I’ve been out in the sun and the weather change and all of that, and whatever the spring stuff that gets up my nose is the pollen and all that. So I do sound a little dead here today, but good afternoon at the ballpark. I know you want to talk some baseball you were doing, liars, lunch and duty, the W NST press box sat seat sat open next to Steve moles and behind rock a buck go. I went up and waved at the seat that I’m not allowed to sit in as a Venezuela on Jackie Robinson day, no less. So I found that to be quite poignant. I did have a dude point out he loved my Aparicio jersey. He said, not a lot of people remember him, and I’m like, Yeah, I played along. I’m like, yeah, yeah. I like, I like this. And they lost in a kind of 10th inning modern baseball kind of fashion through all of this. But I did have a good day at the ballpark and have a lot of observations for Katie and John and Mark and Mr. Rubenstein and Mr. Eric Getty. I have a lot of observations about the money they’ve been spending on scoreboards and whatnot. I’ll get to that. But you want to talk about the baseball team?

Luke Jones  03:12

Yeah, kind of a thud to end the home stand, especially when you go back to Monday night and Albernaz get hit in the face with the line drive and Jeremiah Jackson hitting the Grand Slam. Albernaz coming back out to the dugout to celebrate with I can say that I

Nestor Aparicio  03:24

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saw Jeremiah Jackson hit a home run.

Luke Jones  03:26

Yeah, you did. And look, it’s funny. I brought out a buck ism in my latest 12 Oreos thoughts, I kind of break down this series loss. And yeah, there were certainly positives, but Buck affected you. One thing that buck Showalter said over the years that, I mean, how could you not forget an expression like this? But it was never overlook an orchid while searching for a rose and Jeremiah Jackson in the midst of waiting and waiting and waiting for a large portion of this Orioles, talented, heralded, young core to either start producing or, in some cases, get healthy. He’s just getting the job done, and he’s swinging the bat Well, he’s played a pretty good second base defensively. I mean, we’ll get to the defense in a moment. Because, I mean, that

Nestor Aparicio  04:19

was a, I mean, that was on the field. I mean, let’s start with the starters and anybody with the Jackie Robinson thing. But I sat in the bowl of the stadium, and when everybody’s wearing a black 42 on their back, and three of the guys are guys nobody in the stadium’s heard of weren’t on the team today. Yeah. I mean, it’s it really, it was like Bad News Bears, and I’m sitting with rasig, who watches every game. I’m sitting with Brian Poole, my dear buddy, who loves the Orioles. There’s every team. He knows everything about them. He’s very current. And I’m sitting with and John is enough, but not to the point where, like he would know every player on the roster. He’s more football oriented than that, and we didn’t know. And the new scoreboard that Katie spent all this money on did not have the Orioles lineup on. So when the Arizona is batting, there’s a giant thing of, you know, whoever’s at the plate, for them Arenado and there’s, I don’t know who’s playing left field, center field, right field, like I there’s, there’s, I had a good experience on Wednesday at the stadium. Is my first time at the stadium, maybe my only time this year, until Wendy gives me tickets again, or somebody else gives me tickets, and I don’t even get what they’re doing. They’re spending all of this money on all of this stuff. And when whoever, who’s the guy playing left field, give me his

Luke Jones  05:38

name, Weston Wilson, kick the

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Nestor Aparicio  05:40

ball around. I didn’t see the play because I was talking every time. No, well, the one that would that cost him the runs, that was a triple, yeah, the third inning, fourth inning, and I turned around and I’m like, I wanted to see the play, right? They don’t show the play. They spend a trillion dollars on a scoreboard. They brag about how big it is, and when it comes time to whip it out and actually use it as a television set to show me what I might have missed, too embarrassing to the young man. We can’t, can’t have it up on the scoreboard after he booted the ball to see what actually happened in the sun. Like I didn’t, I don’t get what they’re doing down there. I mean, baseball aside, we talk about that 98% of the time, like, who’s pitching, who’s hitting, whether it’s good enough, like all of that. But the experience i i John McCain, it. I just want to do this for Katie. That’s for Katie anyway. Go ahead.

Luke Jones  06:39

Oh yeah. Well, I mean, I, you know, I was talking about Jeremiah Jackson. He’s been one of the few spite spot bright spots defensively. But you look at Wednesday afternoon, you have Weston Wilson, and left, you have Blaze Alexander, who is much more an infielder by trade and center, although he’s played a little bit out there. And you have Jonathan Rodriguez. And right? I mean, even a pretty, even a pretty good Orioles fan, you know, someone who watches most nights, I’m guessing that you would have had some difficulty picking those guys out of a lineup, regardless of the number 42 Jackie Robinson

Nestor Aparicio  07:15

day, they were just big looking dudes with 42 and I’m like, Who’s that guy? And I’m trying to get body style, and I’m like, That’s not Taylor ward. And I in the scoreboard didn’t tell me. And then all of a sudden, in the fifth inning, we look up at cows is playing left field again. And I’m like, oh, good luck. And see it

Luke Jones  07:31

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was him. You know, cows are should have been out there. All I’m going to go on a little bit of a rant here about about the outfield defense in general. I we talked about the defense a lot going into spring training, obviously, and you and I were not the only ones out there talking about the defense and concerns about the defense and cope. We talked a lot about Kobe mayo. We talked a lot about just the defense in general, what it would look like with a new manager and a new coaching staff. Their outfield defense has been awful, and that’s even that’s even talking about the quote regulars out there. I will say this,

Nestor Aparicio  08:05

we never felt they had a plus outfielder, but you felt okay.

Luke Jones  08:08

I think Colton cows are a good outfielder. Now we can debate whether he’s best suited to play center or a corner spot. He is a plus outfielder, and defensive metrics bear that out. That’s not I’m not saying he’s Paul Blair. I’m not saying he’s Mike Deborah and his adequate, but he’s, he’s, he’s better than adequate. He’s a good outfielder. We can maybe debate if he’s adequate and center, but he’s been better than that when you’ve also got

Nestor Aparicio  08:32

two years so of track record

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Luke Jones  08:34

on Correct? Yeah. So I would say this much for as much as there’s been hand wringing about his his his bat and his swing and miss and his ability to hit off speed and breaking balls and all of that. He needs to be out there every day, whether it’s center left, right, right, one of those spots needs to be occupied by Colton cowser If he’s healthy, because you saw it firsthand. I mean, you had an outfield defense. And look, I want to stick up for Weston Wilson a little bit. That is a difficult play when you’re talking about that left field and you’re making your first start in that left field. That left

Nestor Aparicio  09:09

fields weird when I showed in stadium and see how exactly it is that

Luke Jones  09:13

is not for someone that you just stick out there, and they just stuck them out there. So how much of that is on Craig Albernaz, and how much of that is just the organization as a whole spitting out of lineup. Obviously, they were playing a lefty for the first time, left handed starter for the first time all season old, Wednesday afternoon. But there’s a situation where I look at that and say, Colton kauser, if he’s not playing center, he needs to be in left or right. I mean, you cannot have three below average outfielders out there at the scene on a sunny day, on a sunny day. And you know, I mean, you look at Kyle bradish’s afternoon. I mean, that was a two run triple there, and they changed it from an error to a triple, which was, right, it was a triple in terms of official scoring.

Nestor Aparicio  09:59

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I didn’t see. Easy. I swear to God, I turn my head and they never put the play on the television side. Never seen it.

Luke Jones  10:05

If, if you’re talking about a solid to good outfielder, they have to make that play right? And Weston Wilson’s not that, and I’m not, I’m not trying to pick on him. He’s he was with Philadelphia the last three years. He’s a major league player in the sense that he’s been around. He was a utility guy for the Phillies. He can play infield spots. He can play outfield spots. I’m not saying, especially considering the injuries they have, I don’t know what everyone expects right now in terms of what the roster is. Right now, we’re, this is like, what the Ravens have three or four corners hurt, and you’re, you’re elevating a guy from the practice squad. Like, what are we really expecting on that front? We’ll get to that in a moment, because I mentioned the first time they faced a lefty starter. But, man, this outfield defense has been a major problem. Taylor Ward is not a good outfielder, or at least has not shown himself to be that, that I thought he’d be better out there. I’m hoping he gets a little more accustomed to playing in left field and and look, it’s not just the weird dimensions and the notch with the wall. Sometimes it’s also, hey, you played in one place for a long period of time. You come, you come to a new ballpark. It’s your it’s where you’re playing half your games. Now, there is a little bit of an acclimation period there that I’ll give him some grace, but he needs to be better in right field. We’ve seen we’ve seen Dylan beavers have hiccups. We’ve seen Tyler O’Neill have hiccups before he went on the i l, of course, they have to be better as much as we talk about the pitching, and you know this rotation, and look, the starting rotation hasn’t been off to a great start. We know that. But whether we’re talking rotation or the bullpen. In the late innings, you cannot give the opposition extra outs, and if you have an opportunity for a play to be made, man, you need to make it. And I would say this, even if it’s not a case where they’re racking up errors, per se. Man, it feels like every time there’s a play to be made in the outfield, they’re just not making it right. I mean, if someone needs to get the good jump to make the play, they’re not getting the good jump. So that’s it’s costing them. It cost them big time on Wednesday. I mean, there were, I mean, all three outfielders at some point in time. You could look at a play and say, Man, didn’t get a great read

Nestor Aparicio  12:18

on that, and you lost the game because of that play. I mean that, sure, literally, sure.

Luke Jones  12:23

So, I mean, you know, I mean, I think, you know, Bradish wasn’t great, but that play, he deserved better, right there. I mean, a good left fielder makes that play. So that’s where you look at that. And I would say this, it look to pull back and look at it from a, you know, 30,000 foot look, Wednesday was the first time it really showed up. Their injuries, right? Their injuries really showed up. Because you think about what that lineup would have been against Eduardo Rodriguez, you would have had Adley rutschman, either catching or as the DH. You would have had Tyler O’Neill. You would have had Ryan mountcastle. You would have had Jordan westburg. Right go down the list of the right handed bats, in addition to having Taylor Ward and Pete Alonso, who you picked up as your big offseason acquisitions, instead, you have Jonathan Rodriguez hitting cleanup. I mean, who? Right? And I’m not saying that. I say that to not be disrespectful to him as an individual. I mean, they didn’t pick him up. They only picked him up a few weeks ago, right? I mean, he hasn’t been around long, but you just look at that lineup, and I would say this, it’s not as though Eduardo Rodriguez pitched great against them, I think for the whole afternoon. First of all, they scored four times off of him. He had been off to a great start this year. I mean, even after Wednesday’s game, his era still sub two, even with the Orioles scoring four times against him, but he threw 98 pitches, and the Orioles swung and missed, missed twice, right? So they they were squaring it up and making contact. I mean, there are a couple opportunities that you know you’d like to take better advantage of, sure, but, but, but still that lineup, whether we’re talking about the defensive alignment or just who’s out there, you know, who, who’s hitting where in the order. I mean, it was just that was a day where, oh yeah, they’ve got X number of guys on the IL right now that really showed up on Wednesday. And it’s disappointing, because you look at the Mojo and the 2023 vibes of Monday night, you have Rogers going on Tuesday, you have Bradish on Wednesday afternoon. You’re thinking, man, midnight, late Monday night, you’re thinking, wow, they’ve got a chance to sweep here. And they lost two out of three. It’s not the end of the world. Let me be clear. I mean, we’ve talked about it. This team’s not firing on all cylinders. 500 is about right from the eyeball test perspective, but it’s still disappointing when you win the opener in the fashion that they did on Monday night, to not win at least one of these next two, to take a series loss at the end of business on Wednesday. That was disappointing, but again, you kind. Look at the lineup, you look at the defense, which is absolutely a problem. I mean, it just comes down to it. This franchise doesn’t value defense. You know, we can keep screaming about it till we’re blue in the face, but they just don’t, I mean, just look at the makeup of their roster. I mean, it’s and, but, but I will say, play Colton. Cows are in the outfield. I get it, his offense, his bat. I don’t know, right? I don’t know if he’s going to become the guy that fully justifies being a top five pick. And you know, the the offensive player we saw two years ago. You’re waiting to see that return, but at the very least, he can pick it to a higher degree than anyone else they’re throwing out there right now. So I get it. He’s a lefty against the lefty bat him ninth that day. That’s fine, but I want to see him out there because, man, the defense we saw on Wednesday afternoon that was below the bar in the outfield. But problem is that’s kind of been the case of just about any combination you throw out there so far here in 2026

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Nestor Aparicio  16:02

is Luke Jones. He is a Baltimore Luke. You can find him usually in the seat in the new Jim Henneman press box the third base side. He was not in the seat on Wednesday because he was liars, lunching out in Owings Mills with a new coach and and Eric dicostia, so for the Orioles now going on the road. And dare I ask you about the infirmary report? Because I did put the radio on, and Brett Hollander told me about the 12 or 15 guys, however many guys, they got out, whatever it is, what happens first and next year. Because I think you and I have spent so much time the oxygen, on efflin and on the rotation and on whatever the combination would be of we thought Suarez was starting, and he didn’t start. And it was Brandon young. We thought, you know, Suarez was going to start the day before, and he didn’t start. It was Kate Povich. We thought Povich was going to start, but he came out of the bullpen instead. And then all of a sudden, we finally get Dean Kramer back. Like, hey, waiting on Dean Kramer, and he stinks. And so I’m looking at the rotation. And Bradish, let’s talk about him for a minute. Yeah, because I do want to plug my buddy Brian pool, who works for T Rowe, who went to the game with me, because he loves the Orioles. And it’s fun sitting with somebody you’ve known since 1979 that loves the Orioles, right? Because you have this basis of all of this stuff. And we said, oh, man, I agree with you. And Luke, man, I thought Bradish is going to be the Cy Young guy and Rogers is going to be the other guy. And I’m like, well, it’s only five starts, but there is, there should be some concern that Bradish is more like Kramer than he is like Bradish from three years ago, and where the front end of the rotation is and and listen, I already said if they had a left fielder who caught the ball, brads would have won the game. And Braddock was winning the game until the last run that was scored in the fifth. And I’m like, well, Bradish can’t be a winner today. And I’m like, and that’s my old man and me, you know, winning pitcher and all that. I know you hate all that, but I do think there’s something about when there’s the post game shower and you’re down there asking him about it, that he’s the winning pitcher in the game, and he gets a win for his bubblegum card in the back of his stats and for his arbitration case. So I really feel like some of this stuff is getting vultured because of the bad defense. That’s not going to get better, man, dude. I mean, we’re three weeks into this. We worried about this in the spring, and it’s worse than I thought it was going to be from a defensive perspective, because I don’t know who their plus player is. I mean, you might say Alonzo or Henderson or or cows, or they’re all adequate. None of them. They don’t have a guy on the field who’s a star defensive player. And I think there’s some concern that maybe holiday would be that guy, that he could be a little bit of a Robbie Alomar kind of defensive player at that position. I thought Westbrook play third base group. I mean, I wouldn’t have said that about some of their guys. You make a defense on Henderson being better. I’m like, well, give it, give it six months, or give it six years, and then we’ll look at the body of work and say whether he’s, I’m a Strat O Matic guy. I think he’s a three, one to one to four on the maybe a two, definitely not a one. And I’m looking for ones in the Tom cap Nestor Mike Schilling way of playing stratomatic baseball and saying who’s an excellent defender on the team. And rushman was at the before the injuries before this and that he was thought one, one cannon behind the plate. You know, calls a great game. He’s a guy you want behind the plate, not Passio, not the guy that was catching on Wednesday, who did hit a double. So, you know, it’s good. Number 42 hit a double on Wednesday.

Luke Jones  19:36

Sam Hoff, Hall of Famers, Hall of Fame linebacker,

Nestor Aparicio  19:39

Sam Hoff. Sam Hoff, I it gave me a chance to tell the stories of interviewing Sam Hoff I’ve done a couple of times. And I, I said to the fellows, I’m like, you know, Steadman. Back in 19 I was still at the paper, so it had to be 90 or 91 Stedman wrote a book on the 58 championship game. I have it. And he thanked me in the book, you know, but Steadman said, senior, I. I’m going to write a book. I need you to call some some people. And he had me call all these guys were alive. Then, how Lee, how whoever the coach was, and Gifford. But he was going to do Gifford, but he had me call Sam Hoff. So 22 year old, little Nestor. Oh, Mr. Huff. Oh, John stepping, I know stepping, so Sam Huff was rough around the edges. So when I saw Sam Huff, I’m like, Sam Hoff was always rough around the edges. And we’re six, like, yeah, and that was just the Redskins broadcasts. So Sam Huff is behind the plate, but defensively for the team, I don’t know that there’s any I can feel good that Bradish might come along, that Boz might be the guy you want him to be, and the guy they’re paying him to be. I’m in on the rotation. I’m the 92 win guy who’s going to lose the bet. By the way. I’m pretty convinced of that at this point, because I think you and I get together too often and talk about their deficiencies, and their deficiencies are myriad at this point with with the injuries, putting the injuries in, and the defensive problems, and the pitching not being great, and the bullpen being suspect, but being fine, the bullpen has been like, okay, Bullpen’s been good,

Luke Jones  21:10

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yeah, especially considering the guys that they’ve been missing. I mean, really, there’s been one guy out there who’s been disappointing, Tyler, wells right, who gave up, gave up the home run. Their bullpen has been good. I mean, even before Kittredge and Keegan Akin, who, by the way, Keegan akin is beginning rehab assignment, Kittredge, it was kind of concluding his and just went on paternity leave. He and his wife just had a baby, so we thought

Nestor Aparicio  21:35

holiday was gonna be the first guy back. And, yeah,

Luke Jones  21:36

we’ll get to that. But, but, but the state of the bullpen, especially with the injuries they’ve had, the bullpen has been encouraging. I mean, Rico Garcia has been fantastic. Anthony Nunez, as I said to you with three weeks ago in spring training, keep an eye on him. I mean, because I liked what I saw in the couple times I saw him in the spring. I mean, it’s got a heck of a sweeper and a change up that will play against righties or lefties. I mean, he’s getting eighth, eighth inning leverage situations already, but and he handles it. I mean, he’s so young guy, and, oh, by the way, Ryan Helsley, in addition to the stuff that he had and hiccup month with the Mets aside last year, the guy, the guy who’s been a two time All Star closer and all that, he added a splitter, and you saw him strike out, you know, three pitches, three straight splitters on, you know, on Wednesday, where it was just, you know, dominant against. Oh, by the way, it’s catel Marte, who’s a phenomenal baseball player, strikes him out on three straight splitters. I’d say that new pitch for him is paying some dividends. So I feel way better about their bullpen. And look, it’s always with the caveat. We always say it’s early for the negative stuff. We have to say it’s early for the positive developments too, because it’s still we’re still dealing with a small sample here. But I am much more heartened and encouraged by what we’re seeing in the bullpen, but the defense is just and I didn’t, neither one of us thought it was going to be great, and they are missing a number of guys. And there is something to be said of when you start, you know, westburg Throw out right now, because even if he comes back, is he playing third base? Can he DH you know, or is he DHing only, all of that, but in terms of, like, holiday Jeremiah Jackson’s played slightly above average defense at second base, holiday has never done that. So I don’t know if you’re getting better there. I mean, the idea of what Jackson holiday. You hope he’s going to be one day compared to what he is right now? Well, first of all, he’s got to get healthy, and that risk still isn’t right, as I said to you, despite the timeline of Corbin Carroll being there for opening day and Francisco Lindor being ready for opening day, Jackson holiday has been shut down again. Now I don’t anticipate this being like a major thing, but they got to the end of his rehab assignment and he wasn’t ready, so they had to hit pause and say, Okay, let’s give you a couple days off, and you’ll start hitting again, and you’ll go out again. So not saying he’s going to be out two more months, but it is a situation where, one, When is he coming back? To when is he going to look? Right? And that’s becoming a much bigger question. But they’ve been fine at second base. Jeremiah Jackson’s been a godsend in that way, as much as we’re talking about all the other you know, the Mayos and cows are, and all these different guys that you’re waiting to swing the bat more consistently, or to swing the bat at all. In some cases, he’s been fantastic for them. At some point, you remember Jeremiah Jackson’s 26 and you say, hey, maybe he needs to just be included in the young corps now, because he’s playing that well. But all that said, you look at the overall makeup and you ask, like, who are the plus defenders? I’ll give you the plus defender. I mentioned calzer and I. Not saying cows are in the Gold Glove conversation like that. Good, but the numbers have been able to bear out that he can be an above average outfielder, but the guy to watch, and he’s not going to be ready anytime soon, necessarily, but he is at triple A. Enrique Bradfield, by all accounts, is a fantastic outfielder. So can he hit enough over the next couple months at Norfolk, where, if you’re looking at the Orioles, and they’re plugging along and they’re in contention, is there an argument to be made that come August, let’s say

Luke Jones  25:36

they have a defensive need, and they say, You know what, he’s going to hit ninth for us, but he’s going to play plus, plus defense in center field. Let’s get Enrique Bradfield up here, because I’m not sure where the reinforcements are on that front otherwise. I mean, that’s just, you know, I’ll give you another name, Dylan beavers has had some major hiccups in the outfield, but he’s still really young, and he’s good athlete. I still have hope that he can become a better corner outfielder, but I don’t think he’s a center fielder. You know, I know they’ve tried him out there. I don’t think he’s that so but they they’ve got to find a way to be better, because you just said it. I mean, not that. Bradish was great on Wednesday, and I know it’s been underwhelming so far. Couple things I was encouraged by from Bradish on Wednesday, much better first first pitch, strike percentage. That was something that was really an issue. His first three starts, he was falling behind very consistently. I don’t care how good of a pitcher you might be, if it’s one instead of, oh, one man, it’s just, it’s not pitching. It’s really tough. I mean, you can, but you’re not going to do that. Do that long, like you might be able to do it in a start or two, where you’re missing and it’s one, oh, but over the long haul, that’s a bad that’s a bad formula. So he was about 70% first pitch strike on Wednesday, so that was good, and his velocity ticked up a little bit as well. And that was good

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Nestor Aparicio  26:58

to see. So warm day, that helps.

Luke Jones  27:00

Yeah, I don’t question. I think, I mean, I think that was probably the big factor behind that latter point I made, but he needs to be better. There’s no doubt that said, whether we’re talking about Rogers, Bradish, Boz Bassett, who’s not a guy that’s going to miss bats even when he’s at his best at this stage of his career, or anyone in the bullpen, if you’re not getting swing and miss stuff, what does that mean? You need to have people that defend at least to an adequate, adequate degree. And you know, I’d say this, it’s funny. And don’t get me wrong, this is kind of a veiled, you know, back handed compliment. Mayo’s defense has probably been a little bit better than I thought it would be, although here of late it I feel like it’s fallen off some. He hasn’t hit at all. That’s that’s been the problem with him, but we spent a lot of time focusing on that. But I’ll be the first to admit I thought their outfield defense would be at least better than what we’ve seen. Because, I mean, and Wednesday was extreme again, Weston Wilson making his first start out in left field at Camden Yards, that’s a tough assignment, so I put that way more on manager, coaching staff, front

Nestor Aparicio  28:06

office, whoever’s when you put a guy out there and hope that they don’t hit the ball his way, that’s not good. My dad used to do that in little league when right field, you know what I mean, like, well, but

Luke Jones  28:14

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that was left field, though. So little Louis

Nestor Aparicio  28:16

picking daisies, put him out in right field. He didn’t

Luke Jones  28:19

have to play Bad News Bears. But you look at bradish’s afternoon on Wednesday, I mean, three of the four runs he gave up were with two outs, and two of them came on that triple, which, yes, by by the by the law of the land, it should have been ruled a triple, but we know that a solid outfielder makes that catch. I mean, they just do and, you know, Blaze Alexander got a bad read on a ball. Rodriguez in right field. You know, there were a couple balls that I thought he had a chance to make a play and did not. I mean, it just was not a good example. But this, this speaks

Nestor Aparicio  28:49

to you and me, back in February, talking about this baseball team with kittridge in the bullpen and Aiken in the bullpen and Tyler wells being some sort of swing, you know, Eaton innings. We talked about how many innings efflin was going to have. We talked about rushman being really healthy this year. We talked about westburg coming back by like now after the first injury. We talked about holiday would be back around now. Yeah, we, you know, like just going through all even the problems they were having in spring training, with an efflin looking great in that last start on that Friday night in Sarasota, and just all of the things that were stacking that on opening day brought this full the optimism to think they were going to win 92 games. And now that I’m into it, and we’re watching it, and I’ve seen the atrophy, and I’m seeing the injuries and the level of the injuries, and really, I look, I’m bullish on Pete Alonso, and I’m bullish on gunner Henderson, and I think that they will have good years. I think they will hit 30 home runs. They will, they will be productive. Whatever’s on the back of their base, the baseball card. Take the mean and the median. And I’ll, I’ll say gunner Henderson won’t hit 38 he won’t hit 20. 8032 and I’ll beat Alonso, same thing. And I think Alonzo is going to struggle more here with the left field wall moving back. I think he would have been a 48 home run guy here with the old wall, the 364 I think he’s going to be a 35 because I just think he’s going to get robbed in the same way that mount castle and some of these other guys in recent years, especially when they move

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Luke Jones  30:21

at least active, I was gonna say at least. It’s not the the full blown all, yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  30:25

the John Angelos cavern. I’m looking at the team and saying, look, I can make it a nice I love me some Blaze Alexander’s. I mean, I was the Chico Simone fan and the Tom show pay and the Kiko Garcia. But they don’t win championships. They win games, and that you want to have them, and they’re nice, complimentary players, and but when you’re playing Blaze Alexander every day, waiting on a one one, when you’re playing Wilson, whatever that ward to left field, and whoever these guys are like, they’re not what I thought was going to win 92 games. And the more of this that stacks up, and the more that the injuries hurt them. And I mean, their manager took a blind drive in the face the other night. I mean, like, there’s a lot that’s been going wrong here. I don’t know, you know, Mr. Angelos would hear it say it’s that old black cat. That’s that old black cat behind the barn. He really said stupid shit like that, my good looking son. I mean, not that I missed this stuff, but I’m watching Trump, and I’m like, I watched that guy run the baseball team for 25 years saying all sorts of kooky stuff. You and I don’t say kooky stuff, and we’re not Bal and I don’t have to go on like Brett Hollander and praise everything they do and and we can re show their highlights when they don’t play well. I I’m less bullish than I was three weeks ago on all of it, and I think the pitching could save them, strangely enough, I do think the starters I still am not, I’m not, not sold on Bradish, Rogers bars, you know, in a general sense, that they can get good starts. They can, they can pitch well enough for the first four to six innings to really give themselves a chance to win if the bats awaken. But I haven’t been a cowser guy, and you want him to play every day, and I think if he plays every day, it’ll just expose that, like he’s an adequate defender and a hitter with a hole.

Luke Jones  32:18

What does adequate mean? I guess is what I asked. Because if you look at in terms of outs above average, if you look at it in terms of, like, those metrics, again, I’m not going to be the

Nestor Aparicio  32:29

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guy diving and stealing doubles. He’s going to make routine. He’s not going to screw you, which is better than what they have in a lot of positions.

Luke Jones  32:36

That’s what I’m saying. Like, that’s why he needs to play. He because He’s way better than but my point

Nestor Aparicio  32:40

is, he’s going to play and he’s going to hit 228, he’s going to strike out 175 times, and he’s going to lead runners on, you know, and he’s going to get deceived by good pitchers. I mean, I think he might feast in the seventh pitcher.

Luke Jones  32:53

I’m not saying, I’m not endorsing him hitting second, by the way. I mean, like, I’m talking like, like he would have hit ninth yesterday, because they’re playing a lefty right?

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Nestor Aparicio  33:00

Clean up yesterday. Jonathan Rodriguez, yeah, I know cleanup doesn’t matter anymore, but

Luke Jones  33:06

no, it’s not that they’re very injured right now, like everything you’re saying, Look, if they’re going to be this injured all year, then yeah, they’re not going to win. They’re going to

Nestor Aparicio  33:15

play 490 Yeah, yeah, they’re going to win 79 games. But I would also, but I

Luke Jones  33:18

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would also say looking through the lens of how injured they are right now, they are nine and nine, and they’re not six and 12. You know they’re not, they’re not trending in the way they were

Nestor Aparicio  33:30

last year. They’ve been playing the worst teams in baseball the last couple weeks, teams pirates might not be a bad team.

Luke Jones  33:38

I mean, I think you’re, you’re Minnesota’s 11 and eight right now. Texas is nine and nine. Pittsburgh’s in first place in their division. Arizona is 11 and eight. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying all those teams are going to be like number one, number two seed

Nestor Aparicio  33:54

candidates, but how many teams are playoff teams? I don’t know. I think the pirates can be a playoff team based on their

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Luke Jones  34:00

division and where they are. My point. Point is, and look, we’re no one knows what any of these teams are, right? You know who? I feel really good about that. The LA Dodgers are great. They’re phenomenal. Other than that, I’m not really sure, right? I mean, you know, the Yankees haven’t been

Nestor Aparicio  34:16

the Yankees the last five years, because you look up and this guy’s not playing, and that guy, Stanton’s making a billion dollar, billion dollars, and like all of these guys aren’t getting at bats. The Orioles are suffering from that. But they don’t have Stanton. They have potential holiday westburger. They have these potential guys that still have never really done it, to the point where you’re like, they’re a star player, like we feel about rushman, or we feel about Alonso, but I’m waiting on all of these guys, and they’re not even on the field, and it’s the season, and here we go. And I think it’s very easy to find fall behind the eight ball when the manager’s filling out a lineup card he does not want to fill out on a Wednesday afternoon, and the defense cost them, and that’s not going to change. Tonight or tomorrow in Cleveland. You know, for any short term, I am worried about them. I have having gone to the ballpark and sort of looked at all of it. You know, I, I, I’m not bullish on them being an elite team this year in the way that I thought they could be an elite team five, six weeks ago.

Luke Jones  35:19

I mean, is that solely based on the injuries, like, what’s, what’s the biggest thing that’s changed your mind, going well,

Nestor Aparicio  35:24

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efflin hurts me. The bullpen being injured hurts me.

Luke Jones  35:28

The fact that we’re Bullpen’s been really good. I I feel better about the bullpen than I did six weeks ago.

Nestor Aparicio  35:36

For now, I think if you lean on it too much, okay, it’s going to break I mean, I’m just look.

Luke Jones  35:42

You heard me complain about the bullpen for four months. This is me acknowledging that it’s been way better than I think

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Nestor Aparicio  35:46

their best prayer is get good starts out of the top four guys in rotation. And that was always I counted on that in the beginning they can get a good start and have a left fielder play a fly ball into a triple and cost them three runs in the third inning, and it all that. So you’re

Luke Jones  36:05

more so you’re more concerned about the defense than you already were. That’s fair. I look, I’m not going to sit here and defend the defense. The defense is especially, especially the outfield. The outfield defense has been horrendous.

Nestor Aparicio  36:15

I mean, it’s just the team that I saw was rushman catching 115 games, and Messiah, catching 40. The team that I saw was Alonzo playing 152 games at first base. The team that I saw was holiday as a one, one at second base, coming into his prime gunner, Henderson, playing for a lot of money and finally being healthy at third base. It was Jordan westburg who was going to come through and be that all star he was three years ago, and be the to me, he’s the pure baseball player in all of this, in all of this. I’ve loved Westberg more when he plays. He is a BJ sur off kind he’s a guy you could put in left field and hide because he’s a ball player. And I’ve never been a cows or guy, and he’s always in line for 585, at bats here, because he’s he’s that guy. And he asked look at the other outfielders they have, but the loss of Santander and not replacing that, and Taylor Ward being maybe that, I mean Tyler O’Neill pu to Mike Elias on that in a general sense, for two seasons now. And I don’t know what am I leaving out here. I’m leaving something out in the outfield, or the DH or the bicycles or whatever, but like that, and the five starters, and put effluent in there and put Kramer into relief, I might even talk about Povich or young or Suarez. I didn’t talk about those guys, because those guys aren’t the guys are gonna win 95 games with. Those are the guys that you’re gonna win 79 games with. So and we’re in the middle of April, and every part of this is a question mark, that when rushman comes back, how will it be? Hey, dude, you and I got into it the other day. You pee, peed on me about holiday and about the handmade bone, and where is he and is he coming back? He’s way behind schedule. He’s what? He’s way

Luke Jones  37:58

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behind schedule. This wasn’t the plan. This is what I keep saying.

Nestor Aparicio  38:03

Never felt good about a handmade bone injury and him coming back. I always felt like if he does, he’s not going to be what he needs to be.

Luke Jones  38:11

Okay. I understand that, but now I’m worried,

Nestor Aparicio  38:13

if you’d be back in July and be regular, be be completely healthy, where he’s not having any effect of that in the way that we saw rushman have diminished seasons. We saw Conor Henderson last year have a diminished season. The whole season, because when you come back and it hurts and it’s sore, it never gets right and and now they’re trying to rush him, because you’re already saying he’s behind schedule. He feels like he’s got to get back. They’re not, they’re not,

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Luke Jones  38:40

they’re not rushing him. Three guys in Major League Baseball had handmade bone injuries at the same time at the start of spring training, Corbin Carroll was ready on opening day and has 1000 ops right now. Francisco Lindor was ready on opening day now. He got off to a bad start. I mean, the Mets are a disaster right now, so I’m this isn’t including their owner.

Nestor Aparicio  39:01

By the way, every time that guy opens his mouth, I’m like, Oh my God.

Luke Jones  39:05

Let me be clear. And every player is different. Let me be this is not me accusing Jack Jackson holiday of anything, or the Orioles of anything. He’s absolutely behind schedule. When you look at two other guys that were basically playing them

Nestor Aparicio  39:19

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and he’s stay behind schedule because they shut him down. So when is he really getting here?

Luke Jones  39:23

That’s that said Jeremiah Jackson’s been one of their best players, fantastic. This, this version of Jeremiah Jackson that they’ve gotten. And again,

Nestor Aparicio  39:31

that’s why they’re nine, and nine is because they’ve had overproduction from some places, the bullpen, you know, sort of Blaze Alexander’s put his finger in the dike.

Luke Jones  39:39

Yes, you know. So, so I asked you, you know, what’s changed for you? I mean, really, the only thing that’s changed my trajectory at this point, look, losing efflin stinks. I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sitting here convinced that Zach Eflin was going to throw 175 innings for them, you know? I mean, it’s hurt last year. He’s coming off of a back injury, right? I mean, I. I didn’t even think about his elbow, which is the possibility for any pitcher, anytime they go out there. But, I mean, for me, it’s really it’s just the injuries right now more than anything. I mean, I already didn’t think much of their defense.

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Nestor Aparicio  40:13

They’re not playing the players that I thought they can win 92 games. Therefore, I feel differently about them, and that’s fine, but

Luke Jones  40:18

I but I would also say this holiday, I’ll give you that one westburg We’ve known since the start, since what, I guess we didn’t know at the very start of spring training about the elbow, but we knew early enough in spring training that that was going to be a major question mark, at best. But rutschman, by all indications, this is not supposed to be a long term injury. I mean, it’s just not. I don’t know if that means he’s exactly back 10 days, but I don’t get the sense like they’re not expecting him to be out a month or six weeks, or anything like that. Mount Castle’s out, you know, is already on the 60 day I’ll. Mount Castle’s barely playing

Nestor Aparicio  40:56

as it was. I wasn’t counting on him, yeah.

Luke Jones  40:59

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So I, you know, I, I’m less moved about the impact of that, although Wednesday afternoon was the kind of day where you want Ryan mal castle in there against the lefties. So, so there is that. But you kind of look at their injuries, yeah, it’s concerning right now. And if they have this volume, and I don’t even mean these specific individuals, but this volume of injuries throughout the year, then there’s no way they’re going to win 92 games or 90 games, right? But if they get healthier, right? Not that, not to say you’re going to be perfectly healthy. I mean, let’s, let’s not make this a pipe dream where no one’s on the i l the rest of the year, right? That’s not realistic, either. But if you get the bulk of these guys back, and you can find a higher degree of health, good health, then they should be better.

Nestor Aparicio  41:45

God forbid they lose Alonzo or Henderson for a month. I mean, of course.

Luke Jones  41:49

I mean, you know, Gunner Henderson’s one of the best players in baseball. If you lose him, then, yeah, you’re probably sunk. I mean, it’s just that simple, if you lose him for more than a

Nestor Aparicio  41:58

couple weeks, baseball, it’s not like Lamar Jackson, it’s not like you know, but, oh, but

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Luke Jones  42:03

there’s still guys that are that, you know,

Nestor Aparicio  42:04

this is adding up for me to be very concerned about their playoff propositions and their hopes. And I do believe that the four starting pitchers that they have still have that potential to go out there every night, I have become way more concerned about them kicking the ball around.

Luke Jones  42:20

Okay, that’s, that’s, that’s fine, that’s fine. I mean, I guess for me, other than the injuries, there isn’t necessarily something I’m seeing that’s drastically changing how I felt three weeks ago. I guess that’s my point. But the injuries, like, if those guys aren’t on the field, and they have multiple guys missing throughout the season, then yeah, it’s going to have a major impact. But where I do take some consolation is they are nine and nine right now, compared to being six and 12 or five and 13, or getting off to a really lousy start. So they’ve been able to tread water. They feel like a 500 team right now, where there’s been some good, there’s been some bad, there’s been a lot of mediocre, right?

Nestor Aparicio  43:01

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It could be a lot worse. But I would

Luke Jones  43:02

also say, I mean, look at the state of the division since the Yankees got off to what they were. I think they were six and one, seven and one, whatever they were, they’ve been very mediocre since then. Tampa Bay has played quite well actually, of late. You know, maybe this is one of those years where the rays? You scratch your head and you say, How the heck are they in line to win 90 games? Or do they come back to the pack? Because on paper, they don’t exactly look over the top, formidable, right? I mean, yeah, I get it. They’re getting some pitching back and some, you know, they’ve got some starters healthy and what have you. But I’m still not looking at the rays as good enough to run away and hide from teams. So you look at the state of the division. Toronto is a mess. I mean, you want to talk about injuries and pitching woes. I mean, look at, look at the state of their rotation right now, the Red Sox are playing a little bit better of late, but they got off to a bad start. So all this talk about how great the Al East is right now, you look at it, and it feels pretty mediocre. Now we’re 18 games in, you know, we’re 20 games into this thing, depending on, you know, when someone’s listening to our conversation, but you know, they they’ve got, they have to be better, and they know that. And I have to think, as they get some of these bats back, the offense can and needs to be better, and will be better, because we’ve kind of said that all along, right? If they don’t hit the ball, then, then they’re probably not going to win. I mean, it’s just that simple. So there’s that the pitching, like I said, I’m more encouraged about the bullpen, way more encouraged about the bullpen than I was four weeks ago. Does that mean it’s going to stay that way? Who knows? But they’ve done the job, and that’s without Kittredge throwing a pitch, or Keegan akin throwing a pitch. And those are two guys that you know say what you want about Keegan Aiken, whether you want to pitch in the eighth or the ninth inning, but he’s he’s proven himself useful over the last few years in some degree to some degree, and kittridge is a high leverage guy, so Rico Garcia is. Been great. Anthony Nunez has been really impressive. Helsley, for the most part, has been really good. So there you go. I talked about it. You need four or five baby even six guys out there that can pitch in a variety of situations. Tyler, Wells has been the disappointment. Can you get him back on track? Or maybe you don’t have to put him in high, higher leverage, because you have those other guys, and maybe he can be a guy that comes in with one out in the sixth inning and he gives you an inning in two thirds, if he can do that for you. Man, that’s some value, right there. So point is, I feel better about the bullpen rotation. I’m not panicked over the efflin thing, but the rotation has to be better. I want to see a way better version of that, of Kyle Bradish. I want to see a better version of Boz Trevor Rogers. Fifth inning aside, the other night has been Trevor Rogers, so I’m not concerned about him. And you know, Kramer can’t give up the long ball. He actually had really impressive swing and miss stuff in that game. But you give up three three pitches that go out of the ballpark, that it’s going to ruin any stat line. So you know the rotation, they lost the depth piece, obviously with ethlin, bullpen, I feel better about offense has to pick it up. I think it will pick it up, assuming they get most these guys back sooner than later, holidays becoming a bigger question mark, I will. I will absolutely give you that, just because his timeline has been behind some of the other contemporaries with that injury, and you’re talking about someone who wasn’t a complete product anyway, as a 22 year old. So I’m more concerned there. But Jeremiah Jackson has eased at least the short term concern. So you know, the offense we’ll see, but the defense, I’m disappointed with that. Not that I thought it would be great, but I think right now, for things that we blamed Brandon Hyde and the coaching staff, well, it’s a different manager, and it’s a different coaching staff right now, and yet that part of it looks very similar. And that’s where I look at it, and say, well, then you just say, like michaelias, does he care about defense? Do they care about defense? And look, once upon a time, 25 years ago, Billy Bean flat out, said he didn’t care about defense. You know, they put Scott hattieberg at he

Nestor Aparicio  47:20

never won anything Well, but, but

Luke Jones  47:22

they won a lot of games in the regular season. I don’t know if they’re I don’t know if the defense what you know, but that said they’ve got to find, they have to find some combination that’s better in the outfield than what they’ve gotten. Whether that’s just meaning man. Jason bourgeois and the coaching staff, they really need to coach them up. But my starting point, my jumping off point, and again, this is not me being a Colton cowser fanboy. This is me acknowledging he’s the best outfielder you have as your roster is currently constructed. I want him out there every night, whether it’s in center, whether it’s in left, whether it’s in right, he can hit. He can bat ninth. I’m not saying you have to feature him and and treat him like, you know, like celebrate him and all that. He’s got his warts, just like a lot of these guys on the roster. But my starting point on improving the outfield defense is cowser needs to be out there and not not worried as much about the platoon advantage, because, well, you could put Weston Wilson or Jonathan Rodriguez out there, and if they can’t catch the ball, whatever they might, might be able to give you that night offensively, which is hardly a foregone conclusion, is just going to get wiped out by the defense anyway. So that’s something where I want to see that altered, because otherwise I just don’t know where you’re going to get it. Maybe beavers, like I said, maybe Enrique Bradfield come August, but that’s something that Wednesday was particularly glaring. But let’s face it, Taylor Ward has had his issues. Dylan beavers has had his issues. So it’s not as they’ve

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Nestor Aparicio  48:58

all been embarrassed at one point.

Luke Jones  48:59

So yeah, I mean, it’s, you know, their, their outfield defense has especially been problematic. And that’s, that’s a nice way to put it. I mean, the outfield defense has been playing bad, and that’s something that has to they’ve got to find a higher level. It’s not going to be a Gold Glove level. It’s not gonna be great. Probably it’s not even gonna be good. Actually. Can you get get closer to average? If a play is out there to be made. Make it doesn’t mean a diving catch, but if you can make it by getting a decent jump on the ball, go make the play. And that those are the plays that they’re not making right now. That’s really hurting their pitching staff.

Nestor Aparicio  49:32

Luke is here. I was at the ballpark on Wednesday. Our press box seat was empty because Luke was in he’s the chosen one from the the organizations. I don’t know what I am. I don’t know what they they got mad at me for calling them neophyte with the words I use, neophyte, bush league. And there’s another word. One of them got mad at me and I said, You should hear what I call you privately. You should hear what I say about you off the air, what I. Say on the air, is sanitized. So I’m sitting in my seats down in the fourth row curio and Wendy bronfine and foreign daughter gave me their tickets. It’s really hot. I mean, it was really hot, like when I left, I wear the shirt that I wear in yoga, and I could have rung it. I mean, it was I was drenched. I drove home with my shirt off in my seat belt on me because I was just drenched, and a beer vendor came up, and I’ve never met him before. It wasn’t like Clancy or beer vendor Phil who I took a picture with my old friends that are still there. I still miss mark, the shaky lemonade guy who left us a few years ago, but walking around, saw some friends. I sat back in my seat. Beer fender came over, like, third inning. He’s like, Hey, man, you’re the union guy. And I’m like, You sure? He’s like, Yeah, man, you’re the one that got everybody together, got him united to walk out. And I’m like, Yeah, that was me, yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks, man, you know. So I talked to him, so he remembered free the birds, but he like union guy. I’m like, sure that’s me, you know, like, but, but he meant fan union, which I thought, Oh, that’s a neat way of looking at it. 20 years later, so somebody defecated upon me. Imagine that on Facebook. This was a real person. They’re not like the bots that come when I shit on Trump. This was like a real fan that I’m in love with myself and like all this stuff. So I thought to myself, it was a free the birds post, which dude it’s this is the 20th anniversary. So if I’m ever gonna get all excited about free the birds, that September 21 will be my day. But the picture that my buddy took me had an empty section 388 all those seats are empty, and I always sat in 388 like it wasn’t a joke to sit there. You could see the strike zone better there. Like, that’s why I liked sitting there. And they were cheapest seats. They were eight bucks or whatever. At the time, seven bucks. And you could go out sit in those seats. There’s always room out there. And I like the view of the stadium from those seats out in 388 and there was the closest to the strike tonight. I feel like, even with Wendy’s amazing seats and all, they can’t see the strike zone most places in the ballpark, and when you sit at home all day, we went through this the other day. Like sitting at home watching Game On TV is way better than being there. It just is. I’ll tell Katie that Don any of them, they have their hands full trying to get all this money out of people that like baseball when you can’t see the strike zone. So free the birds being the 20th anniversary guy deficates Pub me on social media. I’m like, fine. I’m used to that. My wife’s not used to it, but I’m used to it. My family doesn’t like it much, but I get used to it. I googled, how many playoff games have the Orioles won since I did free the birds, it’s been 20 years. Do you know how many they’ve won playoff game, not series, just games that they’ve won in postseason less than I thought six, five was the number you might be better than the than the it’s they won the 2012 wild card game.

Luke Jones  52:55

8

They won two games in that division series, and then they won three games against the Tigers so 2014 so

Nestor Aparicio  53:04

they lost three to two and it added it wrong. You’re right. It is six. It added it as one. The AI got it wrong. Imagine that. Hallucinate it. They lost the series three to two to the Yankees. When we were up in New York that night, they had two wins in that series. So there’s been six. Okay, so five was the wrong number six in 20 year either way is like, I

Luke Jones  53:23

mean, we’re splitting hairs

Nestor Aparicio  53:24

on that’s what they’re trying to sell to people, and that this year would be different. And I was the one selling that this year would be different and they win 92 games. I’m not selling that anymore. I’m selling it that the foot race is on with all the injuries they’ve had, the poor defense they have, the bullpen we’re all praising three weeks into it that I think if we were to give each other the saliva, if we if we were bet, bet, bet, bet on baseball. And I had to hose with big Poppy, if you’re going to bet on or against the bullpen the rest of the year, you bet against it. Come on your baseball guy, Luke, even it looks okay right now. I mean, I wouldn’t bet on it. I would bet on the starters based on and I am based on their track record. I’m betting against Colton cowser Based on what I see. I’m betting against Blaze Alexander. And tells me whatever those awful tells me you didn’t

8

Luke Jones  54:10

have a lot of conviction about how you felt three weeks ago, if you’re already jumping off the bandwagon. I mean, like, and that’s fine. Like the bandwagon is a

Nestor Aparicio  54:18

different bandwagon. If Jackson holiday is going to have three under lousy at bats this year instead of five under good at bats, the bandwagon is different with Richmond injured again, the bandwagon is different when I saw that outfield yesterday and and I mean, like I don’t, I am not as bullish on this team as the team I told you on paper with westburg holiday. You know, around I’m seeing what the cavalry looks like, and I’m not even against Cade Povich or Brandon young. I mean, God bless them. But if those guys have to take the ball and make 1618 starts this year, in a general sense, I with this defense and with these injuries, okay, I’m worried about them, and they’re nine and nine season, I’m worried about that. Then it’s football season. He is Luke Jones. I am Nestor. We are W NSTA in 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stopped talking. De