With the news that the John Angelos has agreed to sell the Baltimore Orioles to an ownership group led by Baltimore billionaire David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti, Luke Jones and Nestor wonder how quickly it’ll happen and what it means for the Mike Elias and the team on the field in the not-too-distant future. A 30-year civic hostage situation feels like it’s ending for local baseball fans who have suffered such an awful ownership group.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
years, week, angelo, baseball, coming, orioles, ownership, hope, people, money, ravens, happen, winning, nestor, spring training, run, good, team, sit, john
SPEAKERS
Nestor J. Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home, we are wn S T A, M 5070, Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive I have. I’ve done 10s of 1000s of segments here I’ve done 10s of 1000s of hours of radio here. I wn S T and certainly in Baltimore over 32 years in a month. This is gonna be an interesting one, we’re doing a cup of Super Bowl next week. It is a crabcake row. It begins on Monday and fails. It’s going to be a week long celebration of our community. I thought we might be in the Super Bowl, but we’re not we’re going to have a cup of Super Bowl. The idea is real simple. You come out and have a free cup or bowl of soup. If you donate to the Maryland Food Bank, we’re also going to be featuring 100 other charities lots of folks going to be with us lots of familiar faces, lots of friends. Lucas even said he’s going to come down and hang out. And I don’t know if you’re going to have the oran theologically correct spring training hats that leaked over the weekend on but look, I don’t even want to say this out loud. And I know you didn’t even want to send a WSD text. But this might really be happening with the Orioles. I like that like literally it’s I was on my way to yoga on Tuesday night it was six o’clock news starts to break. I’m starting to jump into it. I don’t know dude, it must be like after like a countries of a dictator falls and the country falls into sort of democracy or the appearance of democracy because we all know that’s fragile. But there certainly is a feeling here that dingdong the witch is dead. And just the profanity on my timeline alone, directed at the Angelo’s family lets me know that the end is nigh. Well, I’ll
8
Luke Jones 01:45
say this much just on a very simplistic level it sure beats happened to commiserate solely about the Ravens losing in the AFC Championship it
Nestor J. Aparicio 01:52
was so last Sunday. What Naveen, but you think about 48 hours ago,
Luke Jones 01:56
I’ll down everyone was the commiserating about that that was that’s still going on days later. And we’ll continue to and we’ll get back to that at some point in time. But I keep coming on later today. I think there were plenty of sentiments in the aftermath of that game. And even in the fourth quarter, let’s say when it was looking more and more like the Ravens weren’t going to get the job done that I saw more than a few people on social media say this would be a good time for the Orioles to go out and get a starting pitcher. Well, they didn’t do that. But certainly this is something that you hope is the means to doing more like that on the field. We haven’t had
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:34
8a real sports down here in that. I mean, I’ve owned a sports radio station that it’s not even a really sports radio station because they the Orioles didn’t. I’ve been doing this from the beginning. So anybody that gets in my way is going to tell me how it goes. Because I was there the day the stadium open. I’ve been there every day until they threw me out. And you’ve been there everyday sense. So like, you know, the whole notion that this isn’t a big deal, and that it could get worse. No, it couldn’t get worse. I mean, like literally could because this time of the year every year for as long as I’ve owned this radios they 25 years, quarter of a century. There’s been what, 123 years, maybe there’s a little bit of hope, but 2013 15 Maybe I mean, like baby in the whole crime of own the radio station. So I It really isn’t. It’s an unbelievable thing to have 12 months of sports. And you know what I mean? We had last year kind of sort of I mean, we really did we want your divisions, but I go to Philadelphia, I bump into New York, I go to ball, I go to other places, they have other teams. We have one team here for all these years. And this other thing that you sit down there every summer and watch, which has been mostly gross until they were so bad that they got the number one pick every year that now they’re they’re good.
Luke Jones 03:53
Well, I think for me, look, we don’t know how this is going to work out. But to your point certainly couldn’t get any worse and worse, right. There’s a lease and putting it to throw you out. Right? Well, right. I’m talking to general not
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:10
how they operate. But I think they operate with everybody,
Luke Jones 04:13
I think for me and look, they’ve had some times where they’ve been decent, but they’ve been it’s been fleeting, right? It was 12 through 16. Obviously go back to the very beginning, when Peter first bought the team, the first few years looked very promising on that front, they spent money. They had success in 96 and 97. They were very close to winning a we’re getting to a World Series in 97. But we know how it went. And I think for me the hope without knowing what this is going to look like without knowing what the ownership group is going to look like. Knowing how much they’re going to spend. The hope is that if you’re buying this thing, you want to fix it off the field and you want to enhance and augment what’s going on on the field. And if that happens, and boy this is really really exciting because you We’ve talked about it baseball operations has been largely fixed beyond ownership, stepping up and increasing payroll and doing the things that you want to do to sign some players and resigned some of your young players and try to get this thing across the finish line. They won 101 games last year, there’s plenty of reason for excitement. But we’ve seen what this offseason has been like, they haven’t done anything other than Craig Kimbrel. So I think
8Nestor J. Aparicio 05:26
there’s a hard time getting my mind around them not running it, you know what I mean? Like, like, it’s just been so awful, I can’t, I can’t remove myself from the fact they don’t have a starting pitcher, and why and the money. And then the realities, the real reality. This is where I talk to David Rubenstein, I’ll talk to these new people if they and just the real financial reality of the team is different than the football team that has $375 million falling off a truck every year that handles their payroll handles, everything handles national television, baseball has money, a lot of money, but then you have to go compete with the Yankees and the Red Sox. It is a completely different model in that way. And quite frankly, back when Steve was shot, he was you know, hanging out in my condo and treating me like a human being, he would always tell me that he didn’t want to buy a baseball team because it wasn’t a fair system. Because it was that much harder to come. We all know that we’re baseball fans right or, but But the notion that this is a small market, a mid market, a depressed market, people don’t want to go downtown bank bank crime, I’m afraid of this fraid of that. Prices are too much stadiums in disrepair or whatever they would say about the $600 million, they’re going to get to fix things in the stadium and make it more modern. I don’t know I mean, stadiums. 33 years old now. So I would just say for me where this money is coming from, and I don’t want to be flippant about it with you or anybody else, Luke. It’s coming from us. It’s coming from me and my wife feeling good enough about Cal Ripken being involved that I’ll pull my credit card out, give me 100 bucks this year for season ticket and go down there 13 times and spend the 14 bucks on the bill that did that that’s how the consumers get involved. And then there’s the the greater picture and something that you and I know about because we sell sponsorships for a living is that they were toxic. From from a from a business standpoint, some of my sponsors do business. You see the royal farms, ads and wise markets Koontz did business with him last year because they were winning, Dennis was you know admitting about that, but how many businesses are gone, just gone, you know, after all these years, and what the value of those sky boxes in the values of their seats and the value of a playoff ticket last year in the minds of the people People have to feel good about giving them money again, because the money has to come from somewhere. Look, I keep saying that like small market, pig market, whatever it comes from us caring and giving them money. NFL is different chat still can do whatever he wants to me, you, anybody he because they’re just they’re like a mafia, the NFL, they’re fat. They don’t have any baseball teams. You know, I mean, you can talk about the owners, you can talk about their wealth. How rich Rubinstein is, these two guys are the fourth richest owner that doesn’t. The thing has to make sense as a business. And it hasn’t made sense as a business because nobody wants to the games. And because television is falling apart and the RSS fault. They need a new baseball is in trouble. Baseball needs a new revenue model all the way across for media. And the first thing they need to do. And I’ll let you speak at this because I’ve been I’m crazy. They need to be nice to people. They they need to get guys named Aparicio. Back to the ballpark? Because that’s been a 30 year problem here. And the problem I’ve had waking up this morning is Is it real? Do I trust that they’ve lied so much? They’re awful people? What are they getting out of the way? It who’s going to be sitting in the owners box? Who’s going to be the president, the team? And those are the questions I have because for 30 years, I can’t get an answer. And if I got an answer, it was a lie. All they did was lie to people for 30. That is their legacy. Their legacy is just so awful. And feeling good about the team again, good enough, not only to watch them on TV or buy cable package, and try to figure out how to get it on my phone when I’m driving Ocean City on a Friday night. Right? But the notion that you feel good about them and it and I was never a guy that could play pretend the way you and others could put your Oriole hat on and run down there. It’s a it’s still it’s still my team. I too close to it for that. I mean, I know how awful these people are and how they treated their own people how they treated everybody. That DNA that feeling. It’s like feeling different about a Russian flag if it ever falls to democracy, like that’s how into it I’ve been because it’s affected my life and it’s affected every conversation I’ve had for 30 years. I can’t believe it. I’m in a state of shock and I don’t know what it’s going to take for me to feel like you know, the Third Reich is gone. I don’t want to be too flippant, but Just these awful people are no longer going to be a part of that, that I can wash that out all the awfulness of flying to Texas with you and being sad at the kids table, and having all of their executive tried to intimidate me in Arlington, Texas 10 weeks ago, and then being told I have to shut up, you’re not going to get a press pass. I mean, it’s insane. And this is the crap that they’ve done for 30 years to everybody in there, including their employees, including agents, including players, including families, including coaches, including broadcasters, Jim Hunter wearing every year Fred man for whether they had a job or not. I mean, these people are awful people. And I want that, and that’ll never go away. I want to feel good about it again. So I really hope that when a PR basis, whether it’s John maroon whether whoever it is that they can really step forward and show people that they’re doing things differently, that they’re not quiet, we’re going to sit in the back, come to the front, come to the front, because people need to know you. And that would be my and I’m losing my mind today, because I can’t get through who the pictures are. But it’s yours, dude. And I’m, I’m damaged, we’re all damaged by this. We really are. The city was damaged by this, I saw. I
Luke Jones 11:09
don’t disagree. But as I say to you all all the time, the degree of fandom for people is different. And people how you’re going to attract people back and then all those other things. You mentioned, traditional
Nestor J. Aparicio 11:21
fans, they have the people that are just going to love them no matter what, no matter how awful they are, no matter how bad they treated. Mike Flanagan, you know what I mean? Like, you’re gonna love them. They’re there that what about the rest of us who have standards like seriously,
Luke Jones 11:36
8but it still begins with winning? It does. If you’re already doing that. That’s good. They’ve they’ve done they’ve been doing that for two years. Like it’s not. I mean, you need to sustain success. And in the process, all those other things you mentioned, matter. But just because they treat people nice doesn’t mean people are coming to the ballpark. I mean, that, you know, when they starts, people aren’t coming to the ballpark when they lose. I mean, we know that come on NES, it’s not about treating people nice to get them to come to the ballpark, you have to have a good product that people want to, you can have the nicest people in the world wanting running a restaurant, if their food stinks, no one’s coming to eat there.
Nestor J. Aparicio 12:12
I mean, if they’re jerks, you’ll also find someplace else to eat.
Luke Jones 12:16
I understand that. But again, when people were thinking about it, they’re getting season tickets. They’re not thinking about what the team does, from a PR standpoint. First, they’re thinking, do I want to go watch that product? And then it will feel good about it? Do I say that? Right? Yes,
Nestor J. Aparicio 12:31
yes, that all matters. But do I like Adley? rutschman? Did I like Adam Jones? Do I want to work for the place? Or you may refer our bell?
8Luke Jones 12:38
For me it everything you just mentioned I don’t disagree with but for me, my hope with this new ownership group coming in assuming this is all going to happen is can we normalize expectations? The Oreos, the one thing they’ve been great at doing for I don’t want to say 30 years because it hasn’t been 30 years, but for probably about 20. Now is lowering the bar of expectation, doing the least doing the minimum to
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:07
we’re small market, we can write that guy we’re not right. We don’t technically, I mean, that’s just doesn’t like that. He doesn’t believe in that. He doesn’t believe in that. It’s
Luke Jones 13:16
been, you know, I mean, think about
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:18
8where their payroll was in 2000. I mean, they had the highest payroll in baseball now. But they had money. They had 3 million people in the stadium. They had sky boxes sold. That’s where the money went to Raphael palmiero. And, and Roberto elevation.
Luke Jones 13:31
And the money went away because they operated terribly, and people stopped coming as a result and everything just
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:37
withers away and they hired Aubrey off who called the city a shithole. And then they expected people to come out and buy tickets for that clown city pond zone. You know, I mean, like they they had losers, literally, and they’ve had losers run in the place like Greg Bader. And as you know what I mean, people who didn’t want to make friends and be nice to people they wanted to say fu were the Orioles. And that’s, that. That’s the that’s the Angelo’s way. The Angelus way is fu where the Orioles go watch the Phillies or the Nationals if you don’t like it go for the Yankees. You know, like that’s how they’ve been. They
Luke Jones 14:15
just haven’t been very good. And again, everything else off the field. You’re right. And from a business standpoint, you’re right, all of that. But again, it starts with having a winning product on the field that people want to come watch. And then in the process of getting them in the building, give them a great experience. And you get more eyeballs and then in turn, you have more sponsors that want to be associated with your brand and you treat them well. And you have good partnerships on that front. I mean, it’s all related. But again, for most people, you and I are so close to it. So our perspective is different than your typical fan.
8Nestor J. Aparicio 14:47
Who it’s not because they watch Kevin Brown this summer get fired and thrown off. Like I mean, my point
Luke Jones 14:52
is we’re connected. You’re involved in it, though.
Nestor J. Aparicio 14:57
The transparency of awfulness, and they really should See through the lies more than anything else, when the owner is sitting there in front of Dan Connolly Oh, 54 weeks ago saying he’s going to open the books and point his fingers and being a jerk the one time he comes out that I mean, and then in the summer the whole Kevin Brett, but I’m not talking about ancient history and Peter and Nestor and free the birds of 2006, or bird squirting me and our company not getting a $30,000 payment that they agreed to. Like, I’m not talking about stuff that happened last century. I’m talking about stuff that happened eight weeks ago in Arlington that I was there that happened last summer, when Kevin Brown wasn’t there on television for a month, and everybody around him reminds me a check, steal, everybody had to lie for him. To this day, Jim Palmer still won’t tell you what really happened with Kevin Brown. Ben McDonald looked the other way when I saw him and everybody knows, but nobody can talk about it. Everybody knows the truth, but nobody can speak the truth. That’s, that’s the Angelo’s way. And that that has contributed to the problems on the field. And it’s, it’s miraculous that they’ve gotten like Elias and sigma delta come in here. And maybe these guys saw the end. And I think everybody that’s ever worked for this team, including me, when they threw me out in 2006. If you think I thought Angelo’s would still be breathing in 2024. Back in 2006. Like, everybody thought, he’ll sell it, he’ll get rid of it, he’ll die, something will happen. And it’s never happened. And therefore, I’m still sitting here drinking a cup of ROFO this morning, in my coal roofing mug thinking, Is this really happening? Like I can’t believe I’ve never had this. It’s a pinch me moment. I’m I’m, I’m having trouble coming to grips with what it would look like like that. If I go, it’s It’s unbelievable that eight weeks from now, I could go down there on opening day, and there might be a press pass. And it might be normal. And I might not have the vibes about the Angelo’s family. And they might have a new owner throwing the first pitch, like all the things that the that Washington football people have dealt with this year, right? Like that whole mean, I hope our guy doesn’t go drunk on Monday Night Football like that guy did. But I think their rollout of those people are gone, is really important. Not, they’re still going to own 60% Dad still breathe, and John’s gonna hang on for another year or two to eff it up more by doing nothing by doing this inactive thing that they’ve done the last six months when they’re good, because Elias can’t have his his arms tied behind his back the next two years. For this to be to go well, in regard to signing their superstars. And regarding them, this, they need to by opening day at Spring Training, invite us down to spring training, you know, things like that, and let people know that they’re gone. I mean, that that would be my biggest message to everybody is they need to be gone immediately. And if that’s what this is, that they’re going to own 40% but have controlling interest just until dad dies because of the tax situation. And that’s my understanding of it. Because the initial report, Lou, was that it 6040 This guy’s buying and he’s gonna be like, Steve, he’s gonna sit sit back. And art’s gonna run and David are going to run the team for a while for five years. It can be that I don’t I don’t think that’s the case here. I think the case is he’s only going to own 40. But he’s going to be the controlling partner. Because that’s what this situation needs. This situation doesn’t need another year John boy hanging on and taking a champagne shower in October, don’t a wildcard round this needs. He needs to be gone, and really gone. Not gone pretend. And we’re just going to tell Nestor and Connolly and the reporters that this is the way it is gone. Like whoever’s running mass and who’s running the broadcast, they have a different boss. And that has to happen in eight weeks. And I don’t know that that’s going to happen. And I think if this thing I’ll just say this when the news leaked, and I love John, Randy’s coming on tomorrow. I’ve known John forever. He’s an Oracle fan. He lives down in Virginia. He owes me a crabcake sob. When I saw it with John, I thought, this is another Angelo’s ruse, like the one you were a part of up in the press box with Wes Moore, where they’re going to put headlines out they’re going to make stuff up and they’re just going to say there’s a new owner coming and John Boyle is going to muscle up and show up and and beat John Wayne at Spring training because I don’t come at me on January 30. He told me there’s a new owner and on opening day John Still running the place because that I’m nonplussed by that. Because if this thing if the old man breeze for another three, four or five years, and I think Rubenstein knows, I mean, these people are billionaires, they’re smart people. I don’t think they if they’re putting their money and they’re not gonna let John F it up any longer than February first hopefully, you know, but I still I’m giddy about it, but I need to know it’s real because they these people have lied so many times anytime their names involved in it. I think there’s a catch. There always was a catch That means literally there always was a catch with the Angeles family. It was never as it appeared to be ever.
Luke Jones 20:04
8Well, nothing’s official until the inks dry. And it’s approved by Major League Baseball. So the timetable for that, we’ll have to see how that works out.
Nestor J. Aparicio 20:12
But I won’t get too excited. Thank you. Well, and,
Luke Jones 20:14
and that’s where, look, it’s been 30 years of this, if it’s not next week, but it is coming. And it is going to become official, and it is going to be real than great. Right? I mean, it’s not, the idea isn’t it must be fixed two months from now, the idea is that needs to be fixed, big picture. And that’s where I’m hopeful in the sense of normalizing expectations that we’re not talking about this team having the 29th payroll in baseball, we’re not talking about this team, being in a position where making the playoffs feels like it’s a miraculous thing. And you needed this five year rebuild in order to even put yourself in this position, to not be in a position where you’re not even talking about free agents to not be in a position where the ballpark is empty, and people don’t want to come and to your point, people who do come, or people who do try to do business with you, the organization is treated poorly, all of those things. My hope is that expectations can become normalized, that we’re raising the bar once again, and the way that the bar has been much higher for the Ravens for a quarter century now than it’s been for the Orioles. And the Ravens have been way more successful on the field Sunday’s disappointment notwithstanding, of course. But I’m hopeful on that front. I don’t know how this ownership groups going to operate. I have questions right now in terms of what does you know, how does this get worked out with mass and in terms of how Major League Baseball views that with the Nationals? And, you know, what, what is the vision for the future of a TV deal and all of that, that every single market in baseball is talking about right now? And oh, yeah. How does this ownership group feel about Mike Elias and baseball operations? I hope they really like them, you know, but that’s not a guarantee. Right? I mean, they’re, the owners sometimes want to
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:01
Well, Mike Elias, like these guys a whole lot more if they give them latitude in the money to actually do what they need to do. I understand.
8Luke Jones 22:06
Right, agree, but at the same time, they still have to work well together. Right. So so these are fair questions. And to be clear, none of what I’m laying out there is suggesting that this isn’t a good thing for the Baltimore Orioles. This is a great thing you hope for the Baltimore or can’t do. It can’t be worse, but at the same time I do you want it to be way better. So and 30 years ago, 31 years ago, people were really excited when Peter Angelos bought the team, and it looked really promising for four or five years. And then we know how it went after that. So and I don’t say that to be doom and gloom. Let’s be very clear. It’s just there’s unknown, but there’s a major excitement and optimism about the unknown, especially when you’re talking about Yeah, even if it’s private equity, but billionaires coming into the picture and an ownership group that reportedly is going to include Cal Ripken in some other types, which look, I’m not saying yeah, that’s, that looks that looks good. From a tie wash, though. I agree with you. Yeah. But it still looks good, though. It’s still something to my point about fans who aren’t sitting there thinking about John Angelo’s on a daily basis, or the business side on a daily basis beyond I want the team to be good. And I don’t want them to embarrass themselves in the way that they did with the Kevin Brown fiasco last summer. That looks good. That still looks promising. That’s still something that you put Cal Ripken and you associate him with the brand. Automatically, it’s looking better, right? It doesn’t mean it’s fixed, doesn’t mean it’s gonna be perfect. But like I said, normalize expectations for this franchise. And now with a lease in place, and you hope, what is going to be an infusion of money to go out and spend some money on some baseball players and spend money to keep some of the really good young baseball players you have. The timing of this is very exciting. From that standpoint, from an on field standpoint, it is exciting, knowing about what the possibilities can be. Look, we’ve said it all along. It’s not the Yankees. It’s not the Mets. It’s not the Dodgers, but doesn’t mean it has to be the Oakland A’s or the rays either. So, you know, can you find that sweet spot in terms of building this thing up? You know, Camden Yards is going to be renovated in the coming years. You have this young core, you still have what’s regarded as the best farm system in baseball. There’s a lot going for this organization that wasn’t five years ago, but it’s always been with the caveat, but ownership. What about ownership? And now you’re hoping that’s going to lead not hoping going to change and change for the better and hopefully much better. And if that happens, then boy, things become way more exciting around here. Beyond just talking about Adley rutschman and Gunnar Henderson,
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:51
look Joe is here. I would say he’d be in Owings Mills and he will be on Friday when they do the State of the State thing for selected media. Luke has been selected I Been unselected on Friday to ask questions about, oh, running the ball six times with running backs and Sunday. So we’ll get to all of that. But on the baseball side, you and I haven’t had a baseball conversation that few off the air, nothing really on the air. Forget Rubinstein forget Angelo’s, let’s just talk about Mike Elias and where they really are. And they can make any deal they want to make, right? I mean, it’s not about signing a $200 million pitcher at this point, right? We’re past that point of, we’re going to go get the Padres guy and give him a six year deal for 200 million. But Dillard sees Westberg holiday. I’m not saying they’re gonna do holiday because they’re not. But the prospects, the Bank of prospects they have where they are with Mullins and money where they are with other players that are coming up for money, whether it’s rutschman, whether it’s Henderson, what they’re going to do with their money. What do you think they should do? And what do you believe that they’re going to have a starting pitcher before? I mean, this is like yelling at the cost about not having a rough edge, and then all of a sudden, clowny and Vanoise show up, it happens this way. You’d like to think it’s going to be better than Lyle’s or some of the stuff we’ve seen in previous years. But where are you with the pitching? I believe they will, obviously make a blockbuster deal. I believe they’re gonna move a couple of prospects and get a real pitcher. I believe that’ll happen before opening day.
Luke Jones 26:27
I think so. But until it happens, Nestor, I am skeptical. And and it’s not just because of ownership or lack of, you know, a willingness to spend money. It’s a possible witness. How quickly is this going to happen? Right. So I think we do need to be very clear about how Mike Elias wants to operate. And how much is that going to change? Tom’s going to tell? Right? I mean, we don’t know. And again, how quickly is this process going to play out? We certainly have to recognize that as the process does play out, I’m not sure that there is going to be funds for him to go sign somebody right of notes. So yeah, you do look at it from a trade standpoint. I think, if nothing is evident at this point, it’s like Elias values, his prospects. I think that is clear at this point in time, that he’s not going to part with top guys. If he doesn’t feel that he’s getting appropriate value in return. And in terms of whether it’s a Dylan C’s or whoever it might be. So do I think they’re going to have another pitcher in place by let’s say, at least midway through spring training? Sure. Am I convinced it’s going to be a top half of the rotation guy? Well, until we see it, I am going to be a little skeptical. And, you know, we’ve heard other names out there like Michael Lorenzen, for example, who was a commodity at the trade deadline and even threw a no hitter for the Phillies, but well, then we saw how it played out. He wasn’t even in their playoff rotation, because it didn’t go so well. So and we had the same situation with a deal we made. Yeah, right. Yeah, right. Right. Chad, Jack Flaherty, who was a major disappointment, so Well,
Nestor J. Aparicio 28:04
8that’s what I was gonna say, I’m not as crazy about this, because I think they’ll go out and hold their water. And April, May and June, if that Oh, sure. Sure, if that leads to their Scherzer or their Verlander on July 30, maybe, and they’re, you know, and they’re gonna win 94 games anyway, whatever it’s going to be. I’m not they have they don’t have to win 115 games, they don’t have to have five Jim Palmer’s you know what I mean? Like, they just they need to hang in, stay healthy, have a plan. And when Westberg sit and 321 at the All Star break, and you can deal him and get that guy, or whatever it is. I know I’m long playing this. I’m not a guy that believes the dude, I did radio back in the 90s when you were a puppy, and we would sit around here when we didn’t have a football team. And we would sit around here be like, who had started 2420 He was 25 Whomever you got to have to start up like, now you don’t know you don’t because whatever they come north with whoever was going to Rochester or Ottawa or Tidewater or wherever it’s going to Norfolk whatever they call them this week. There’s an up and down now there’s, there’s time for all of this. And they’re not a diminished fret, they’ll be fine with whatever five pitchers they have in the organization for a month or two or three, but long term when it comes to playing games in October, as you know, they got to be better than they were last year we started pitching and disprove that.
Luke Jones 29:24
No question about it. No question about it. And I mean, to your point, Mike Elias even said this last week when they were doing the caravan thing, but they weren’t 101 games last year and most of that roster is back. Right and certainly no one of major consequence, with apologies to Kyle Gibson, who looked was a solid innings eater for them. But Kyle Gibson wasn’t the difference between them winning 101 and missing the playoffs right like let’s let’s be clear about where they are right now. So you’re absolutely right on that front. And if this last year has taught us anything here in Baltimore Orioles 101 wins best record in the American League, ravens 13 and four best record in the NFL, and neither of them made it to the pinnacle. Right. So that’s not to diminish either franchise for the success that they did have in 23. And all the fun it was. But it shows that being the best team in the regular season is not the end all be all in terms of winning at all. So yeah, you’re right on that front. And, again, maybe with the timing of however this, this transition and ownership is going to go, that might complicate things a little bit in the short term, but you’re hopeful and they’d certainly have the assets. And they certainly have the prospects that even if the move doesn’t come in the next two weeks, that a move is going to come and maybe two moves, you know, maybe three moves, who knows, I mean, depending on how it plays out. But in the meantime, yeah, there’s plenty of reason to be really excited about this franchise, even more so now than yesterday, or last week, or last month, because of what we’re all expecting, hoping, anticipating praying, however you want to describe it, that this story is for real, because we’ve said it all along. Even baseball guys like me who aren’t paying as close attention to the business side and the off field side of things. It’s all connected in the end it is. And that’s why we said for as great a job as Mike Elias and baseball operations have done over these last four to five years, they were always going to come to that inflection point where you say, Okay, it’s built. Good, good young baseball players, good farm system, payroll flexibility, you’ve got a really low payroll right now that you can augment and go out and spend and doesn’t mean you’re spending $250 million. But it means you’re spending more than you are now. And you’ve got a chance to really make something good, turn it into great or turning into turn it into historic and now with that piece. And I don’t want to say piece pieces, the wrong word with that major dynamic changing, this all becomes that much more exciting, because now you do really feel and start to believe that this thing could be special. And this thing could be sustained. If it’s run properly. And now hoping you have the appropriate amount of support from ownership to make this thing, turn it from good, which it’s been good the last couple years been really good. Last was last year, make a great push it across the finish line and not just do it in terms of thinking about making one potential run that you hope the stars align. But the idea that the Baltimore Orioles could be a great franchise moving forward, both on and off the field. And that’s something we haven’t felt that way about this team in a long time that goes all the way back to even before Peter angelos, really since about the early 80s When the farm system started to dry up. So that’s exciting. That’s something that I haven’t seen in my lifetime other than some very fleeting periods of time. And really never off the field feeling as good as you hope it can feel here moving forward with a new ownership group.
Nestor J. Aparicio 33:05
He lived long enough things change that’s that’s what we should know. Oh, Jones is here he is Baltimore Luke, he’s out on all the social medias. I am Nestor I am going to be doing a cup of Super Bowl is crabcake row all next week on Monday we kick it off at fayed Lee’s in Lexington market Tuesday. We’re going to be a cost this Wednesday at Coco’s pub in laurelville. Thursday, we will be on the west side at State Fair in Catonsville. And on Friday at Pappas and Cockeysville sorry, it’s not a purple pep rally all next week, but we’re doing it all for the Maryland food bank. You bring out goods for the Maryland Food Bank, we give you a cup of soup or bowl of soup, Maryland crab creamy crab or 5050 which Luke and I had a long conversation you can check that out in the wn st audio vault about the delights of 5050 soup for those of you who have never combined your cream of crab and your Maryland crab, this is your opportunity to do it free of charge. Delicious. It fails on Monday cost us on Tuesday Coco’s on Wednesday. You know what I should have done if anybody comes to all five I should have given him something I don’t know if the $50 oil farms gift card or something like that. But either way, come on out. Enjoy yourself next week. Be a part of the show have lunch with us stop and get an iced tea or an afternoon beverage we’ll be broadcasting live from nine until five if you’re listening to morning drive. You’ll be hearing Luke and I and other things talking about football and other things. I’ve had a great week of radio so far we’re only halfway through the week. The Orioles have been sold. Coach pillock has been by Todd Heap has been by Matt Stover stopped by talking about being calm during all of this and we’ve talked at length about the Kansas City Chiefs and what they came in and did to the Ravens in regard to rattling their cage. It’s been a tough week around here and a quick pick me up for those of you who love baseball and the Orioles. My last name is Aparicio I kind of like baseball. So I am I’ll be following the story. You find everything that we know and do and write up at Baltimore positive.com And I do hope that you come out say hello next week and one of our five we’re coming to you. We’re coming to your neighborhood East North southwest we’re going everywhere next week. That’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. We will have Maryland lottery scratch offs. Roz gave me a fresh batch earlier this week so I’ll have fresh lottery tickets to give away. So we’ll have some winners next week as well. Our friends at window nation big appreciation to them 866 90 nation as well as Jiffy Lube, multi care pitching in to make the crabcake tour. Awesome. I am Nestor we are wn st am 1570 A new day is dawning. New Oriole ownership. We’ll have plenty to talk about with that. Stay with us.
