As the awful beats mount and the bats remain silent in September, Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Orioles getting battered by Giants and the playoff health realities and updates given by Mike Elias before the home stand.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
orioles, rodriguez, weeks, elias, bullpen, give, hit, grayson, play, team, game, great, point, couple, year, talking, september, good, baseball, win
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
8
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive. Find us out on the web. We’ve got the football. We got baseball. This week, Raven sent it off to Dallas. We’re going to be doing the Maryland crab cake tour on Friday. All of it brought to you by friends at the Maryland lottery. I’ll have some Raven scratch offs to go along with our gold rush. Seven stubborns, which I’m running out of we will be at Faith leaves with Congressman John Sarbanes. James Piper bond of the living classrooms foundation is going to be joining us. I think my friend Gary Lynette’s going to be joining us. Luke Jones will be joining us on Friday, because the Orioles will be entertaining their final home regular season series this weekend against the Detroit Tigers. Luke was at the ballpark on Tuesday nights, quick series with the San Francisco Giants, and then the Tigers come to town. Luke will be out in ravens all day, then he’ll be at the Orioles all night. I don’t know what the hell we’re doing on Thursday, because they don’t let me in, but they will both be performing this week, and neither would have performed very much lately. Luca, honestly, have you seen some bad football and some really bad baseball of late? And, you know, I was optimistic on Monday morning. You know, Monday you and I got together and we talked about like, yeah, yeah, they’re home now. They’ll win a couple they’ll get straightened out a little bit. You know, they might win a couple and they might get straightened out, but it’s starting to feel even for me, and I’m an optimist about it, I think they can still go and pitch and hit next month, but it’s this is troublesome. It really is.
Luke Jones 01:36
Yeah, I mean, I’m not going to sit here and say I’m surprised by what happened on Tuesday night, when you’ve been making guys not named Blake Snell look like Blake Snell with your ineptitude at the plate and I mean, go look at the September numbers. They are, what they are. I mean, people were complaining. They were struggling in July and August. I mean, look at September. That’s really struggling. But Blake Snell has been fantastic in the second half. I mean, there was so much talk about him and, you know, one year deal and how it started out, but he’s been outstanding over the second half of the season. So to sit here and say that I’m shocked that he struck out 12 and allowed one hit against an Orioles lineup that’s at this point featuring four or five guys that, frankly, don’t belong in a contender lineup in the month of September, I can’t say I’m shock Nestor. Doesn’t mean it’s any less disappointing, but I mean this team’s in trouble. Uh, there’s, there’s no way to to mince words at this point in time. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to make the playoffs, but as I noted to you, as you were sending me a text late during Tuesday’s game to kind of set up what time we were going to reconvene and chat about this. About this. I said to you, if the regular season were another five to seven games, I would really be having my concerns that they’d be missing the playoffs entirely. I mean, that’s that’s where this is trending right now, and to your point, it’s baseball. Things could turn around. Mike Elias gave a bunch of injury updates on Tuesday, as he kind of talked about this data of the team, Jordan Westbrook still on track. In fact, I saw him with my own eyes take batting practice on Tuesday. Ramon Arias is taking batting practice Ryan mount castles down in Sarasota and is hitting and a much more encouraging update on him than maybe we thought 10 days ago, but, but
Nestor Aparicio 03:18
it’s not cut time now. You’re
Luke Jones 03:19
either going to be able to play in two weeks or you’re not. It’s less than two weeks now. Weeks now well, and again, as I’ve said to you, being able to play physically being meaning you’re cleared by the training staff and the medical staff to play is not the same thing of being ready to be good in October. So but I certainly roll the dice with those guys coming back from injury compared to what we’re seeing from half the lineup right now. I mean, in the month of September, Gunner Henderson’s hit. Cedric Mullins has hit, albeit he’s become more of a platoon player and doesn’t really hit left handed pitching anymore. Anthony Santander has been fine. You know, that hasn’t been at his best, but he certainly has been good. Who else is hitting? I mean, Lavon Soto is someone who has kind of supplanted Jackson holiday as the starting second baseman for the time being. But,
8Nestor Aparicio 04:09
well, holiday and mayo have really been a tremendous disappointment. For all of the air we’ve blown into the balloon about their, um, their greatness, and that they will be great, but they’re not great right now, not in the Major League No, no, they’re
Luke Jones 04:24
not, and they’re not even good.
Nestor Aparicio 04:27
I’d be major league players. I
Luke Jones 04:29
8mean, Jackson holiday had a really good two and a half three weeks when he first was recalled. Remember hit some home runs, gave them hit the Grand Slam and his first game back. I mean, that was great to see on the same day that Jordan westburg got hit on the hand and went on the IL but he’s struggled immensely over the last month. I mean, dramatically, almost as bad as he was back in April. Kobe Mayo has never hit at the major league level to this point, albeit, he’s not playing every day. But at the same time, how do you how are you inclined to run someone out there who’s striking out half the time? Time, right? So
Nestor Aparicio 05:02
40 home runs against double a pitching at AAA, and you get to the big leagues, and literally, you’re not even a 100 hitter. You can’t find the ball. I
Luke Jones 05:10
mean, it’s it’s a problem for right now. It doesn’t mean that I’m down on Jackson holiday and Kobe Mayo long term, but where it is right now, they’re certainly not giving you any look. And I’ll give you the name that I couldn’t remember the other day for the Rangers. Evan Carter, who’s out, you know, has been out since, I think, May, with a back injury, but he was the one who was caught up late last year and gave the Rangers such a spark. You know, was one of their better hitters in the postseason as a rookie. Save for something dramatic happening here as far as a quick turnaround, they’re not getting that from Jackson holiday or Kobe mayo, but let’s not pick on the young guys. Ali rutchman Still not hitting right a hit a home run on Sunday, but we see him look like himself, maybe for a game or two, and then it goes away again. You know, Colton cows are not doing a whole lot in the month of September, striking out a lot really
Nestor Aparicio 06:00
bad energy around the team from a leadership standpoint. Like, you know, fans are pissed, and fans are going to be pissed. And I see, you know, I can tell by people’s tweets where they are on the spectrum of what they know and when they they love baseball, or whether they’re K Fabe, or whether they really are paying attention, like where they are, but the energy level we all see. You know, we all have seen this thing. Not just look successful, but look prepared. I mean, dude, that fly ball in center field, that they look Keystone. I mean, they’re kicking the ball around now, in a way, even defensively. And the weirdest part is, we were all worried about the pitching. We’re all worried about the starting pitching. When Bradish went down, it means when all those guys went down at Memorial Day we were worried about starting pitching. Starting pitching has been like the feature product since the all star break. It’s been better than we thought it was going to be, and everything else, including the defense, has been far less than we thought it was going to be. All of all of it, the collective i i Don’t gunner. Every player has under I don’t. I’m looking up and down and I’m thinking, who is producing at any level that even looks like the back of their bubble gum card should look none of them. Gunner Henderson’s
8Luke Jones 07:15
he is. He’s hitting 327, in September. He’s slugging 655, I mean, Gunner Henderson is going to be most valuable Oriole. You know, hasn’t played like an MVP in the second half the way that he did in the first half, but he still played at a high level. Suarez was getting votes to the fourth inning last night. And the one thing I’ll push back on, the starting rotation hasn’t been that that good since the all star break. It’s been the last month or so that
Nestor Aparicio 07:38
it’s been much better, right? Better than we thought it was going to be. It’s we thought that was going to be the biggest problem, and that has not been the biggest problem,
Luke Jones 07:45
sure. Although, you know, two weeks ago, we were talking about how awful Corbin Burns was in August. So, you know, you can spread around the way.
Nestor Aparicio 07:51
8I think the bats would just shut off. And then again, we didn’t think five guys are going to
Luke Jones 07:55
get injured. And that’s what I keep coming back to. I mean, at some point in time, you can’t be surprised by this anymore. Look, Adley rutschman. Yes, that’s alarming, right? I mean, we’re talking about two and a half months that he’s hit like a replacement level player. I mean, that’s how bad he’s been for the second half of the season. So that, yeah, and I’m still not convinced, we’re not going to hear a week after the season ends that he was playing with some kind of injury. He He said he’s healthy. The coaches have said he’s healthy. So you can only take them at their word for right now. But that still would not surprise me, because if not, it’s like, how can you not fix Adley rushman? So, you know, I mean, this is the kind of, you know, Michael IAS talked about this on Tuesday. He addressed the media, gave injury updates. You know, we’ll get to Grayson Rodriguez here in a few moments. But one of the things that he talked about was, you know, ultimately, this all stops with me. I’m in charge of this, and I kind of look at this and not going to be reactionary here to the point where we’re going to start talking about people getting fired, left to right or anything like that, although, you know, will there be changes to the coaching staff? There are changes to the coaching staff just about every year, at least, right
Nestor Aparicio 09:08
down on this team, when Rivera is in the well, you know, like, it’s very obvious, anybody knows baseball, they have different players. They’re wearing the same uniform, but says Baltimore and Orioles, but they’re different players, and they’re not as good, and they’re just not. They’re not but, but also guys like, like, I said, if Adley Richmond, it truly is healthy, and you’re just not able to fix him, then, then I am asking questions about the coaching staff in the same way I’m asking questions to Adley rutschman, right? I
Luke Jones 09:32
mean, it’s not, it can be both, right? I mean, that’s one thing that’s frustrating, I guess, and this was, I don’t say this just as someone who’s around the team and and covers this and does this for a living, I thought this even when I was, quote, just a fan 20 years ago, right? We’re always so quick to just want to blame one thing. It can be multiple things, right? It always is multiple, right? Exactly. So, so I think we need to try. Try to look at it through that lens, but, but I’ll say this. Mike Elias, you know, we talked about the bullpen back in spring training. We talked about the trade deadline, okay? Effin, great move, right? Even the IL steno side, great move, fantastic move. They’re glad. They’re going to be very glad to have him next year. Well, the burns move was the first over the year giving away. But I’m talking about the trade deadline, deadline. Okay? I’m
8Nestor Aparicio 10:26
trying to give the totality. Yeah, we could
Luke Jones 10:29
talk about that, sure. I mean, did they do enough? You know, was burns enough, knowing that Kyle Bradish in January was dealing with what he was dealing with, and John means, had been shut down in October. But, you know, play worst
Nestor Aparicio 10:43
case scenario back when they got burns and when Brad worst case scenario was, Bradish won’t be available, but maybe means will be and, you know, the worst case scenario is what we’ve seen, what we’ve witnessed, right? Basically, I don’t know. I don’t know how it could have fallen apart any more than it has over the last 60 days, except for Henderson getting hit in the head and rushman taking that foul tip and having a broken something on June 27 and then it would all gone to hell, and we’d understand it better. But I understand it really well. I watched a lot of baseball. This is not the same team that was on the field in June. You shouldn’t expect it to perform
Luke Jones 11:18
8that way. No, it’s not. But you know, the point I was going to make, I was trying to make, was okay. Zach Eflin, check, good move, sir. Anthony Dominguez, couple more home runs allowed than you’d like, but overall, I mean, he’s our closer right now. I mean, Craig Kimbrel, that was sad on Tuesday night. Just sad, right? It has to be. I mean, shame on them. If, when Danny Coolum is activated at some point here in the next few days, and he’s going to make at least one more rehab start or appearance, but if, if it’s someone else to go and Craig Kimbrel is still on the roster, then, yeah, whether you want to just put him on the IL or what I mean, shame on them, then, I
Nestor Aparicio 11:57
mean, it has nothing to do with money, right? It’s not vanity. He just kicked anybody out,
Luke Jones 12:03
I think. And I even noted this on social media on Tuesday night, as he couldn’t get out of the ninth inning, and they had to go to Bowman, you know, use someone who’s actually been useful just to get the final out of the ninth inning. But I, I’ve said for a while now, you know, the last two weeks or so probably is where I got to this point where I spoke with finality about this, where I truly think a month ago, there was hope that he could get back on track. Two weeks ago, it’s like, okay, he’s out of time to go on the kind of role that you need. The money’s not an issue anymore. I mean, you’re talking about a week’s worth, you know, one or two weeks worth of a $13 million salary. That’s not a whole lot of money. But I think there was a sense of not wanting to embarrass him. But that was embarrassing for him on Tuesday. No, I
Nestor Aparicio 12:47
think he might be going to the Hall of Fame. And the last thing you want to do, you want to give him every effort, especially a five nothing game to go out there,
8Luke Jones 12:53
get three freaking out. Sure, exactly, whatever it was, but, exactly, but, but, but, to go back to what I was trying to talk about with the trade deadline. Dominguez, check, ein double check, right beyond that. I mean, Eloy Jimenez got off to a good start. He’s batting over 43 in September. Austin Slater had that three hit game on like September, 2 or third, whatever it was. But he’s batting 174 in the month of September, yeah. I mean, you just, you look at some of the guys that they brought up,
Nestor Aparicio 13:24
or dive more than it was a reach for great players, right, right?
Luke Jones 13:28
I mean, F legit, sir. Anthony Dominguez hadn’t been great in Philadelphia this year, but had a track record of at least, hey, lights out in the postseason for the Phillies two years ago, when they got to the World Series, you know, and and Austin Hayes. Look, Austin Hayes hasn’t been able to stay healthy. He’s been on the IELTS multiple times for the Phillies. So effluent
Nestor Aparicio 13:49
8was a lot about money, though, to me, and in a way that sure the former ownership here would not have signed off on that, sure, even knowing that he’s going to be your opening day starter next year, because you’re paying him to be that right, like and we’ll get to Grayson Rodriguez in a minute, whether he could be the opening day starter. But the thought that burns is coming back in anything other than a rider contract. And we talked about Blake Snell last night, and you know, the collusion of the owners on pitchers, which is that’s next up, if the if the baseball players association want to, want to take that on. But I the FN thing is a little bit of an outlier for this franchise to take him on, because in the past 18 million would have been far too rich for next year for the old guys. So that part of it is a step up, because he’s get the only thing they got going for them two weeks from now, right? Like him and burns at this point, they are the only hope that they can go out there and keep you in a game for six or seven innings on October, 2, third, for whatever it is two weeks from now, and that somebody will hit the ball, somebody, and you hope it’s not Austin Slater or menace or these guys in the lineup, right? You’re, you’re, you’re hoping it’s westburg Back in the lineup, but the infirmary report is in. More important than losing 10 to nothing, right?
Luke Jones 15:02
No. I mean, you still want to try to win, and it’s not like the Giants have been playing great baseball, right? I mean, they were a team that didn’t want to trade Blake snow at the trade deadline, but because they felt like they still had a chance, right? So, but you know the point I was making about Mike Elias at the trade deadline, it’s like you added these other guys, and let’s throw Trevor Rogers into that, and I get it. Trevor Rogers has two more years of club control. We’ll see how that plays out. But there was very much a we can fix these guys, right and not terribly different than what we’re seeing with the Ravens right now, with their offensive line, with their plan being, we can coach these guys up. We can develop these young guys, and sometimes you can Hey, last year, the Orioles acquired Aaron Hicks after the Yankees paid him money to stop playing for them. That’s how desperate the Yankees were to get rid of Aaron Hicks. And Aaron Hicks probably played too much down the stretch, let’s be clear about that, but he absolutely gave them a lift
Nestor Aparicio 15:58
for in a way that Jimenez did not. Yeah,
Luke Jones 16:02
exactly so. And look, let’s be clear. I mean, it’s not like they gave up real prospects for Eloy Jimenez or Austin Slater. I’m not but, but it very much is a you get what you pay for, right? And we’ve talked about that with you know, in my opinion, Mike Elias biggest blind spot from my major league roster building standpoint has been his bullpen the last couple years. You know, they fixed some guys, you know, Yan your canoe, being kind of top of the list of that. Danny coulam, never being fixed, but being optimized, let’s
8Nestor Aparicio 16:30
say, but, but you don’t even want to shop top shelf. You don’t want Josh Hager. You don’t want the developed relief pitchers and give them big money. Any you know you want to play around the that’s the game, right? The game is with the bullpen, finding some Batista, finding some Cano, finding some Lopez, finding these guys that are just dudes, and all of a sudden, you know, Jacob Webb can be your closer for 90 days, or Sir Anthony Dominguez can be your closer for a couple of weeks or whatever. They don’t, they don’t want instant they don’t think there’s a Mariano Rivera out there. And if there were, they wouldn’t want to pay him anyway. I mean, that’s the thing about bullpen. That’s the That’s really a baseball you know, Garden of Eden, quite frankly, is, well, we don’t want to pay the starters too much. Your arms might fall off and they’re too expensive. See Corbin burns at the end of this year. But, you know, we don’t want to give Josh hater, because, you know, he might fall apart and you know, like, how long is too long for a relief pitcher? How many years would you sign them? How effective can they be? Last year’s closer is this year’s junk pile. I mean, think of the Orioles. The Orioles lights out closer from two years ago. It’s like, awful, no good. Laughed out in New York. He had some family issues, you know, but a guy was a closer two or three years ago. Is nothing any like bullpen help there. There is nothing permanent about bullpen. I don’t think in the modern era, you don’t pay anybody and think they’re Andrew Miller for five years or whatever, maybe the way you did 15 or 20 years ago?
Luke Jones 18:01
No, I mean, it’s, it’s very unpredictable. We’ve said it’s like high risk stocks, right? I mean, you can get something that’s going through the roof and then it’s in the tank. You said two years Gregory Soto was a closer going to the All Star game a couple years ago, albeit for a bad team, but still, put up those kind of numbers. Has he been that guy? I mean, $13 million
Nestor Aparicio 18:21
pitcher a year ago according to the Orioles, right? I mean, yeah,
Luke Jones 18:26
8although that, I’m not going to give them a total pass on that, Craig Kimbrel, the warning signs. I was saying this to you back in February. You didn’t care
Nestor Aparicio 18:34
what they spent on him. You didn’t think he was a closer in the big leagues. If they gave him 5 million a year and got a bargain, you would have said, Oh,
Luke Jones 18:41
I would have liked that better at 5 million. But the point was, you still he wasn’t going to be an elite closer. Was always my argument. Now, let me be very clear. I’m not so smart to say that I foresaw what, what has happened in the second half to this magnitude. I wasn’t suggesting he should be DFA in September, like being that bad, but you’re the
Nestor Aparicio 19:03
one. Listen, I don’t know Elias. I have no Elias is part of the people letting you in and locking me out. So I’m not kissing his ass. I’m just simply saying I’m here to defend him a little bit on this because, you know, you you wanted bullpen help, he went and spent $13 million on the wrong guy, right? To your point, right? So if you want to beat him up about that, but he tried, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt that a lot of these guys, arms fell off. A lot of innings went away. I mean, they had hundreds and hundreds of innings that just went away when Bradish and me, like, literally, that they, when they when you and I were down in Sarasota driving around during the rain delay. You know, we’re putting in the innings of who could do what, who would be good for what? Certainly didn’t see Suarez. You better give him some credit
8Luke Jones 19:51
for that. Well, I can criticize without suggesting that means I think he should be fired, or that he’s you can’t criticize
Nestor Aparicio 19:58
our General Manager. What’s wrong? Will you like Jason Locky for Well, you’re not, you’re not on a Christmas card, you’re not Oriole fee, you’re not real fan. Luke, yeah, I get that every so that’s the side of all of this for me. Elias has put the team where it is. I can’t be too mad at him and the swings and misses at the All Star break. Yeah, you got to gain two starter for them for two weeks from now. So they did get that out of out of the trade deadline.
Luke Jones 20:23
Look, every, everyone is partly to blame for this and and then they’re, yeah, they’re all other factors that are out of their control, right? I mean, it’s I, one thing that I said to you over and over, and this is, it’s almost like this is crystallizing at this point, because, you know, I just look Stranger things have happened. But just because Stranger things have happened doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen, right? In terms of this team getting off the mat and making any kind of a run in October, we’ll see at this point getting
Nestor Aparicio 20:52
8off the bats winning game one. I’m smart of God. You know that if they win game one, they’re off the mat.
Luke Jones 20:58
Getting off the mat, first of all is you got to get these guys back healthy, right? I mean, you’re not winning with the lineup they have right now. You’re just not unless gunner Henderson’s gonna hit three, unless gunner Henderson’s gonna do what Reggie Jackson did, right? I mean, unless you get something like that, that’s just silly, but, but what I would say to fans at this point is, and I think most fans are in this camp at this point, adjust your expectations. I mean, it’s if you’re if you’re going into this expecting a deep October run, then that tells me you haven’t really paid attention since June.
Nestor Aparicio 21:32
I would I want to pick on ownership in Major League Baseball. Just make you laugh, because everybody bought their tickets the last two days, right? And it’s 1000s and 1000s of dollars, depending on where your seats are. But like, whatever it is, it is a it’s a cruise on your credit card right here, right now that you may be taking next month, and you might not be taking and you’ll take it at one o’clock, five o’clock, and whenever they want to play the games, you got to get a sitter. You got to take care of the animals. You got to take care of the kids. You got to get off work. So all of that, and I thought to myself, are the tickets less? I thought this should be half price right now, because I’m adjusting my expectations of of what I’m expecting to see two weeks from now. You know, the $150 ticket should be, you know, discounted to 6999 I just thinking, like, what’s a game one worth two weeks from now or forever, and these guys are going to be in the lineup and they’re going to get their ass kicked. Is that really $175 playoff night for me, you know? And I’m really wondering it’d be like, see a Pearl Jam with half the
Luke Jones 22:35
band? Yeah, yeah. The point I was just trying to make as I was talking about this, and I’ve used this point, you know, even going back to the off season, despite expectations being what they were. I mean, look where sigma, Idell and michaelias came from in Houston. And I said this to you a couple days ago, and probably will use this example again, assuming we’re not going to see a miraculous turnaround here, but development and team building and success. It’s not always linear. I mean, it’s not. I think the worst thing that happened to the Orioles, in a way, in terms of where they are right now, is how quickly it all came together last year, if they were having this season last year, the Royal
8Nestor Aparicio 23:16
season, right now, right the Royals are having that year where they’re good, but they’re not great, but they’re young and they’re that’s this year. The Orioles way surpassed that last year, right? Right?
Luke Jones 23:26
I mean, if the Orioles, the season the Orioles are having right now, if they had, if that had come a year ago, people would still be frustrated, because they they were, they were where they were in June, and they’ve had the second half that they’ve had, but at that point there would be more enthusiasm, because it’s like, Hey guys, I know it hasn’t been great, but this is the first time they’ve been in the postseason since 16 and all that problem is they won 101 games last year. Expectations went through the roof, understandably. So I’m not picking on fans and saying that, and then, as baseball is apt to do, it can humble you, and things don’t always go perfect. And the example with the Astros, 2015 get in as a wild card. They won the wild card game. They took the Royals, who eventually won the World Series to five games in the divisionals, in the Division Series. So you want to talk about a team that look like they had a rocket ship strapped to their back, in turn, a rocket strapped to their back in terms of just their progression and 2016 they didn’t make the playoffs. They had a, I believe, a slightly below 500 record in the second half of the season. Now, they had some injuries and things of that nature. It happened. And then guess what? The Astros won the World Series the following year. So just because the Orioles are where they are right now, and as bleak as it feels right now and again, just looking at it on paper, do they have enough? Are they going to have enough talent? And maybe this transitions us into talking about Grayson Rodriguez and the most recent update. But as bleak as it feels right now, that doesn’t mean that all hope is lost for 2025 right dude, if
Nestor Aparicio 24:59
they win one. One game two weeks from now, it’s one more, and they won late. It’ll be more exciting if you can just win a game, force a game three, maybe we and then, you know, they get their ass kicked in extra I I’m just saying, like, who knows, right? They need to win game one. And I’ve been saying that since June, and I’m really going to get real crystallized on that with you. You’re going to get tired, you’re going to want to punch me by two weeks from now, because I’m going to talk about it a lot. They need to win game one. I mean, forget what happened Tuesday and I forget Craig Kimbrell. Forget that holiday can’t play. Figure out who your nine are. Get your starter out there two weeks from now and win game one. And if you win game one, I’ve seen Stranger Things happen to your point, because they have big league players in their lineup. I would agree with you as assembled, if westburg is not back of Rodriguez. And this is where I’m gonna let you I’m gonna shut up and give you a chance to give me the infirmary report, because I know Elias was trying to give that to you. And it really changes day to day, like even on Mount Castle, on some of these guys, right? Yeah,
Luke Jones 25:52
8yeah. I mean, Jordan westburg took batting practice. Looks like he’s on track to be back before the end of the regular season. I mean, the one tricky part here, which isn’t a complete deterrent, but it’s something worth acknowledging, is Norfolk season is over on Sunday. So in terms of trying to get these guys live at bats, now they can do sim games and things of that nature. So it’s not like it’s impossible, but that’s one factor. But you know, westburg is on track. I saw Reus hit and run the bases. You know, his ankle seems to be doing way better. He’s on track. Ryan now Castle, like I said 10 days ago, if you would ask me, some of the updates sounded like, oh, I don’t know if he’s coming back, but he’s in Sarasota hitting. And Elias was down there on the off day and said he looks good, and he’s got a said he even has a really good chance to he might be playing at Norfolk maybe this weekend, you know? I mean, that’s, that’s what it’s looking at looking like. So if
Nestor Aparicio 26:45
you wanted Norfolk to play longer, you could have left mayo and Holly, right,
Luke Jones 26:49
right, right. Yeah, team, they’ve kind of, you know, they’ve got, they’ve got Samuel beso, you know, they’re, they’re stud catching prospect. There a couple other guys have been promoted, but, yeah, I mean, it’s a different team than how it looked in April. That’s for sure. The Orioles aren’t the only ones in that regard. But Danny cool is going to make at least one more rehab appearance. I mean, you know, cool, I think there’s a little more of a challenge there, because he hasn’t pitched since June. You know, he had elbows, elbow surgery with the bone chips. I you know, from what I understand, Vilo was down a little bit, and his first rehab stint was better, you know, in subsequent ones. So they’re still trying to give him some time in terms of, one, how he feels, and two, how effective he looks. So he’s going to have at least one more rehab appearance, you know, the one. And I’ve been posing this question to you probably the last couple times it came up, but Elias acknowledged, and I saw with my own eyes. I mean, Grayson Rodriguez has not had a setback or anything like that. I saw with my own eyes. He warmed up in the outfield as I arrived at the ballpark on Tuesday afternoon, and then he threw a bullpen session. I saw him. You know, he wore his number 30 jersey. It was Grayson Rodriguez. Even had my binoculars just to be certain. So there’s no I don’t think they’re being coy or or trying to deceive or anything like that. With Rodriguez, as I said to you, from the moment that they announced it was a lat strain, those are tricky. I mean, that cost him three months two years ago, when he was on the verge of being caught up to the majors in June of 2022 so Elias acknowledged, he’s doing really well. He’s making progress. He’s on the verge of throwing live batting practice, you know, facing actual hitters, you know, in a, not a game setting, but a competitive setting, a competitive environment. But, you know, he acknowledged the calendar and times not on our side. And then I follow, he follow up question asked as I’ve posed the possibility of Rodriguez potentially working out of the bullpen. He did not dismiss that possibility, but he also acknowledged, Hey, first and foremost, we need to make sure we take care of this guy physically, because he’s that important to us. We can’t rush back a diminished Grayson Rodriguez and think that one, that’s going to give us our best chance to win in October, and two, that’s going to position us well for the future. And and he’s right about that. So my gut, based on the fact that he’s acknowledging that, says, you know, it’s quite possible we don’t see Grayson Rodriguez, who’s
Nestor Aparicio 29:12
a worn issue, we
8Luke Jones 29:13
do literally, right? I mean, I mean, he said at the time, you know, he said, and look, they never announced a timetable, because it’s especially with pitcher injuries. And, I mean, you just don’t know, right? I mean, it’s, it’s one thing. I mean, even like Jordan westburg, like a bone, like, you know, Bones typically heal, right? And typically you have a, you know, doctors and medical personnel and athletic trainers, they have data to go off of, to kind of give you, you know, a good target as far as how what recovery will be. And some guys recover really fast, and some guys are a little bit slower. But Elias said at the time, and keep in mind, this was the first week of August when they were in Toronto, when Rodriguez was scratched. He said at the time that they thought. Was a six to eight weeks for him to be back. Well, Tuesday marked exactly six weeks. So he’s not at the front of the curve, but it’s not like he’s a month behind it, either. So I think it’s really one of those where I’m guessing if we see Grayson Rodriguez pitch in October, and again, this is a guess. This is not me hearing this from someone in the organization, but just going off of what Michaelia said, and just kind of reading the tea leaves and just recognizing that this guy still hasn’t pitched in a game. He hasn’t been stretched out like anything like that. But I think if we see Grayson Rodriguez, I think it’ll be in some kind of a hybrid relief capacity, and at this point, considering the wild card series is now less than two weeks away from getting started, and the Orioles are four games behind the Yankees with 11 games to play. You do the math there. I mean, even if they’re not within three games when they go to the Bronx, even a sweep is still going to leave them behind the Yankees, you know. So I’m looking at this from a wild card standpoint. I’m guessing they’re going to have to make some hay in October and actually advance, and then Grayson Rodriguez becomes an option in some capacity. That’s my gut. We’ll see. Again, I’ve used the the Kevin Gosman comparison, but keep in mind Nestor Kevin Gosman in 2014 when the Orioles shifted him to the pen for that swing roll that he did really well in keep in mind he’s someone who had pitched in the bullpen before. Grayson Rodriguez has one career appearance in relief. It was in the Gulf Coast League back in 2018 so I’m not saying that a relief role for him would be he comes in inheriting two runners with two outs in the eighth inning. I’m sure it would be much more of a hey, you’re replacing Albert Suarez with an out one out in the fourth inning, and you’re going to go two innings for us, probably something like that, which is what Gausman did 10 years ago. But is that going to be a realistic option in the wild card series? He’s got, he’s still got a ways to go here. So that’s where, you know, maybe Division Series, I don’t know, but I think at this point, it’s much more of a maybe, rather than hence, you know, I don’t even know if you’re writing it in pencil, let alone talking about Penn. I mean, I think it’s much more. He’s over in the margin as you’re filling out the roster as hey, maybe at some point in October he can help us. But again, he’s still until he’s facing live hitting, until we hear that he’s throwing a sim game and and logging a couple innings of a sim game or something like that. It’s really tough to talk about him being a part of their October plans, let alone any visions of him being a game two starter. I mean, I think that ship has sailed, at least for the wild card round.
Nestor Aparicio 32:51
Luke Jones is here. He will be there. They’re going to split him in half. Half of him is going to be at the ballpark on Thursday. Half of movie and Owings Mills, he’s back and forth and the Ravens headed down to Dallas this weekend. Full coverage all week long. We’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour on Friday at fates, at Lexington market, before the Orioles game. Got some great guests. We’ll be at Costas next Friday, the 27th and previewing what we hope to be you know, the Buffalo Bills and some playoff baseball here two weeks from now. Uh, Luke can be found at Baltimore, Luke. Uh, anything else you want to give just before I give the warning shot, we go back talk to some football here, because that’s bringing us a lot of joy this week. You know,
Luke Jones 33:32
just got to win. I mean, they got to. I agree with your overall point about game one. Let me be very clear about that, but it’s not good vibes right now. Just not, and I don’t mean that in a way that like there’s dissension, there’s just so much frustration. I mean, these guys Tuesday night, it felt like they were beaten down, like it felt like, felt like a long season. I’m not saying that, and let me be clear, I’m not questioning like that. They’re jaking it. They just the vibe felt a little more defeated, right? And you don’t want that. I mean, this team still, they’re still, they’re going to make the playoffs, mathematically speaking, it would have to be such a crazy collapse. And also the teams behind them playing so superb, you know, playing so well over the last 10 days here for that to happen, but it’s just like Elias, you know, he, he gave his best, you know, with state of the Orioles, he acknowledged the Mojo having gone away, but he expressed confidence and that they’re going to break out of it and all that, and then they lose 10 to nothing. I mean, that’s just well, they got
Nestor Aparicio 34:37
8to go to Yankee Stadium. They got to win some case, give me the wild card breakdown in your mind for scenario where they’re not catching the Yankees, they’re four back with 10 Right? Like they’re not catching the they’re not going to win the division, they’re not going to be a one seed. Hey, how about that? Buy. How you feel about that? When we don’t have to worry about that anymore? You’re gonna get your wish. They’re not gonna have they’re gonna get the play. Um, what? Would that look like Tuesday, Wednesday and maybe Thursday the following week? Well,
Luke Jones 35:03
I mean, as it stands now, they’d be hosting the Kansas City Royals, right? I mean, the top wildcard gets home field in the wildcard round, that the third division Winner gets home field in the wildcard round. That’s Houston
Nestor Aparicio 35:15
three, right, right?
Luke Jones 35:19
Yeah, I think so it should be, right? I didn’t have the standings in front of me, but yeah, you know, the Yankees. And then it would be,
8Nestor Aparicio 35:28
if it ended today, be Yankees. Want Cleveland? Yes,
Luke Jones 35:31
correct, correct. But you know, as it stands with the Orioles, I mean, they’ve got to hold on. You want home field, right? I mean, you don’t want to go best to three, all three on the road, which is what the wild card round is, but they’ve got to hold off the Royals. Now the good news is the Royals have been scuffling. You know, had a losing streak themselves. But, I mean, you just gotta, you gotta win some games. You gotta, you gotta have something to feel good about, right? I mean, other than all they have to feel good about right now is how the first two and a half months, three months of the season went, and the fact that the math works in their favor in terms of how many games are left. I mean, that’s literally all there is to feel good right now. And to your point, the starting pitching, Suarez on Tuesday night notwithstanding, the starting pitching has been, you know, it’s been a plus in the month of September. You know, it really has been, but they just win a couple games here. You know, feel better about yourselves. Win, win a 13 to one game. And you know, Ali rutchman hits two bombs and and Colton cows are hits a bomb, and, you know, gets on base three times. And you know, you need something like that. And I’m not saying that that’s the end. All be all, but boy, again, the vibes just, and I’m not a big vibe guy, right? I mean, you know me, I like to try to quantify as much as I can in terms of my opinions on something, but it just, it felt kind of defeated Tuesday night, and that was disheartening, starting the final homestand of the year and coming off an off day. I mean, that’s just that wasn’t great, and Blake Snell is terrific. Like I said, I’m not shocked that they struggled to swing the bats against him specifically. But, I mean, they’ve made everyone look like Blake Snell of late. That’s been the problem, really. Yeah, we
Nestor Aparicio 37:13
got Dean Kramer, you know, going for him, and then a Sunday, or, excuse me, Sunday, Thursday afternoon, it’s going to be a effluent. So you know, if you’re heading down to the ballpark, wave to Luke, he’ll be there. We’re going to be monitoring football all week and talking about the problems with the Owen through football. This was supposed to be fun. I was looking forward to September, even back in like May and June and July. The hell happened around here? It’s good thing. I got crab cakes and some shrimp salad and some fried oysters waiting for me. Waiting for me over at fade. These I have I’ve been celebrating with 26 oysters in 26 days. About halfway through, I was at Conrad’s crabs up Perry Hall, the new location across the street, which Luke you’ll remember it is the location where Joe Flacco made the guarantee. So I did have a couple of six raw oysters in the bar there, and think about how it used to be back when I was a real media member. It is a long week around here. It’s going to be a it’s going to be a long fall around here. Things don’t go better, but I will continue to say, just win game one. He’s Luke. I’m Nestor. Baltimore. Back for more on Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.
