Adding Bassitt for real money and losing Holliday for real time

It’s already been a short week of additions and subtractions as the Baltimore Orioles sign veteran starting pitcher Chris Bassitt on a $18.5 million one-year deal and lost Jackson Holliday to a broken hamate bone, which changes the Opening Day lineup. Luke Jones and Nestor reset the Birdland expectations as Mike Elias still has some work to do on the bullpen and there’s action gearing up in Sarasota as spring training baseball begins next week in Florida.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent acquisition of Chris Bassitt, a 36-year-old pitcher on a $18.5 million one-year deal. Bassitt has a sub-4 ERA over the past four years and throws eight pitches. Jones highlighted his durability and consistent performance. The conversation also touched on the Orioles’ payroll, which is now over $50 million, and the importance of depth in the starting rotation. They noted the potential for a six-man rotation to manage workloads. The discussion also covered the impact of injuries, particularly to Jackson Holliday, and the need for the team to start the season strong to maintain fan interest.

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Orioles Offseason Moves and Expectations

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Orioles’ recent moves, including the signing of Chris Bassitt and the implications for the team’s starting rotation.
• Luke Jones highlights Bassitt’s durability and consistent performance, noting his sub-4 ERA and ability to throw eight different pitches.
• Nestor Aparicio compares Bassitt’s contract to other recent signings, emphasizing the importance of spending money to improve the team.
• The conversation touches on the historical context of the Orioles’ payroll and the need for the team to be competitive and interesting this summer.

Historical Context and Team Improvement

• Nestor Aparicio reflects on the past, mentioning previous low-budget signings and the lack of high-profile pitchers in the Orioles’ history.
• The discussion includes the impact of Peter Angelos’ ownership and the changes under Mike Elias and the current management team.
• Nestor Aparicio emphasizes the need for the Orioles to be their own entity, separate from the Nationals, and to attract a diverse fan base.
• The conversation covers the importance of having a plan to win and the need for the team to be competitive and interesting this summer.

Payroll and Business Strategy

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the financial aspects of the Orioles’ payroll, including the need to justify spending to internal stakeholders.
• The conversation includes the importance of selling tickets and merchandise to support the team’s business model.
• Nestor Aparicio highlights the need for the Orioles to operate like a respectable, responsible organization with integrity.
• The discussion touches on the challenges of balancing payroll and team performance, with a focus on the long-term goals of the organization.

Starting Rotation and Depth

• Luke Jones explains the significance of adding Chris Bassitt to the starting rotation, emphasizing his durability and consistent performance.
• The conversation includes the potential impact of Bassitt’s signing on the team’s depth and the ability to manage injuries.
• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the importance of having a strong bullpen and the potential for a six-man rotation to manage workloads.
• The discussion covers the potential roles of other pitchers, including Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, and Dean Kramer, in the starting rotation.

Defensive Capabilities and Lineup Flexibility

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the defensive capabilities of the Orioles’ infielders, including the impact of injuries on the lineup.
• The conversation includes the potential roles of Blaze Alexander, Jeremiah Jackson, and other utility infielders.
• Nestor Aparicio emphasizes the importance of having a flexible lineup to accommodate injuries and changes in performance.
• The discussion touches on the need for the team to prioritize defense and the potential impact of new coaching staff on player development.

Offensive Performance and Leadership

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the offensive performance of key players, including Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, and Jackson Holliday.
• The conversation includes the importance of having a strong offensive core to support the pitching staff.
• Nestor Aparicio highlights the potential leadership roles of Pete Alonso and other veterans in the lineup.
• The discussion covers the need for the team to perform well in the first 90 games of the season to build momentum and attract fans.

Health and Injury Management

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the impact of injuries on the team’s performance, including the recent injury to Jackson Holliday.
• The conversation includes the importance of managing injuries and ensuring players are healthy for key games and playoff runs.
• Nestor Aparicio emphasizes the need for the team to have a plan to address injuries and ensure continuity in the lineup.
• The discussion touches on the potential for new coaching strategies to improve player health and performance.

Team Culture and Player Development

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the importance of team culture and player development in the Orioles’ success.
• The conversation includes the role of new coaching staff in improving player performance and team dynamics.
• Nestor Aparicio emphasizes the need for players to take responsibility for their development and performance.
• The discussion covers the potential impact of new coaching strategies on player development and team culture.

Future Outlook and Fan Engagement

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the future outlook for the Orioles, including the potential for a competitive season and fan engagement.
• The conversation includes the importance of fan engagement and the need for the team to be competitive to attract fans.
• Nestor Aparicio emphasizes the need for the team to perform well in the first 90 games of the season to build momentum and attract fans.
• The discussion touches on the potential for new coaching strategies to improve player performance and team dynamics.

Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones wrap up the conversation, summarizing the key points discussed and the overall outlook for the Orioles.
• The conversation includes the importance of having a strong starting rotation and bullpen to support the team’s success.
• Nestor Aparicio emphasizes the need for the team to perform well in the first 90 games of the season to build momentum and attract fans.
• The discussion touches on the potential for new coaching strategies to improve player performance and team dynamics.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles, Chris Bassitt, pitching improvement, Mike Elias, payroll, starting rotation, bullpen, Jackson Holliday, Adley Rutschman, Pete Alonso, Taylor Ward, Tyler O’Neill, defensive capabilities, offseason moves, competitive summer.

SPEAKERS

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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 through the Valentine holiday. I’m wearing my Costas gear here. Go out support our sponsor someplace like Koco’s. Better get there early or take it home. They have a love care package. I think pizza John’s has the heart shaped pizzas this week. So make sure you’re checking all that out. Crabs are really heart shaped. But you know you Yeah, maybe a little bit. I mean, always comes with love. I’ll just go get the crab Imperial up at Costas in Timonium. I’m wearing my gear. We have new sponsors around here. I’m allowed to miss mispronounced farm, the comfort guys, I’m going to have more fun with this than I’m going to have with any other new sponsor around here. If you have H back issues, they can help you with plumbing. AC. Nobody needs their AC just yet, although I do see the melt is on. Luke Jones is here. The Orioles are spending money the Orioles are DL ing, or we don’t call it to DL anymore. Il, sorry, I’m so old. I’m not allowed. What else am I not allowed to do? Not only talk about wins, I’m not allowed. What? What are the rules here? What are old man rules that mark me as an old man? Luke Jones, to think that paying $18.5 million to a 36 year old pitcher is somehow, what a great idea. This is awesome. Mike Elias, you’ve saved the year. Maybe I’m waiting for you to tell me because you were the negative ninny with the Orioles, yeah.

Luke Jones  01:33

I mean I as I wrote at Baltimore positive.com as I’ve talked to you in recent weeks, I think for anyone waiting for an exclamation point to be put on the off season, and more specifically, the starting rotation, Chris Bassett isn’t that however, he’s still a rock solid pitcher, even as he’s going into his age 37 season, and he’s someone who’s been durable, and he’s someone who’s had a sub four era Three of the last four years, and has been pretty darn consistent. He throws eight different pitches. He still averages close to a strikeout per inning, as you know, and certainly I’m not talking about him in terms of being your ace or your number two, or maybe he’s ends up being their number three. But if we’re going to say back half of the rotation, you can do a lot worse than Chris Bassett. So I’m not going to sit here and say that I’m doing cartwheels over it, but it gets my stamp of approval. And you have to keep in mind, I mean, 18 and a half million dollars for I mean, look, look what Charlie Morton got last year. Look what Sagano sign.

Nestor Aparicio  02:37

Who you sign, you can only sign. I mean, you know, I mean Clemens and his prime is unavailable, right? Exactly, but Verlander was available and didn’t I mean age 43 though, you know, and also was more inclined to be there in the way that Eddie Murray was more inclined to be here at the end, right? So I, I’m very good with it. I think it’s, you know, we talk so much as they’re trying to sell $38,000 seats in the seats that you’ve sat in. By the way, your seat was worth $38,000 a year. I learned that. So maybe we’re even on all the money. Angelo screwed me on a 2006 because you got your money’s worth out there, because we should all be paying for play with media. But I digress, the money part of this, and the payroll part of this, and the part where they need to win this summer, and they need to be interesting this summer, and they need to be competitive this summer, I still can go way back to Oh, 23 months ago, when Peter Angelos was still alive and his kid was still kind of running the team, that we didn’t think like this, like you know, as Oriole people, there were never $19 million pitchers that were Coming on Valentine’s Day, or after pitchers and catchers reported, there was no threat of that. There was a threat of Ubaldo Jimenez coming for 4.5 million at the end, and some washed up Johan Santana when he’s 42 and blew his arm out twice and used to be in the Hall of decent, or Fernando Valenzuela at the end, or what, whatever. Dude, I can go back to Doug Drabek, Katie Griggs, if you’re listening, Mark, fine, because I know you’re listening. Pal, LinkedIn, pal, I go back to all of them, all of the dead ends, literally, we can go through. We can have fun with this dude about how many, Chris Benson’s how many, whatever’s there are, they’ve never been in position to spend $150 million on a slugger to have. And we’ll get the holiday in a minute, I mean, and that’s clearly an issue, right? And health and Westberg and ruts. Whatever he’s going to be. Those are all real problems. But arrogance, Rubenstein, Money Bags, Elias, his ability to navigate the marketplace, and as you always say, you want them to operate like the Cardinals or like a respectable responsible, respected, give me my media credential. Back you thugs. Organization with integrity. That is a community that is a community leader that figures out the mass and thing that makes this something where there really are 28 or 30,000 people in the ballpark a lot of the nights when they don’t have to get bobble heads away to do it, when the community wants to come back and buy these seats they threw you out of in the Jim enum and press box. Like when it gets good again, and when it gets vibrant again, and when it separates itself from the Nationals. And I mean, it’s going to have to do all of that to survive. It’s going to have to be its own 2.3 million people a year, a lot of subscribers, a lot of hats, more people of color, younger people. It’s going to need to be all businesses. It’s going to be all that they’ve gotten out on the wrong foot in a lot of ways, and they’re not selling much, from what I understand, but putting a baseball team together this year, right here, right now, if I helicoptered in and I’ve been somewhere else and came back and said, What are they going to be on the field this year? Are they really trying to win? Do they have a plan to win? Are they willing to spend the money to win? Do they have the right people in place baseball? Are they modern, you know, they, I check boxes on all of that to say they’re doing their best to be what you want them to be, which is a chance to win every year from now, moving forward without going too far in, without being stupid like the Mets, or doing dumb stuff to give Juan Soto too much money, or maybe giving Henderson or rushman or whoever, holiday any of these guys the money before they’re ready to have they get, besides, got more money than any of them. So I don’t I can’t complain about it, because I’ve been on the radio 35 years now. Angelos owned the team for 30 of them, give or take, I have not sat here on Valentine’s day other than 96 to, oh, one, back when they’re really fat and had a chance to think they might sign Jimmy key, they might get a number two or three starter at market rate be attractive enough to attract that kind of pitcher and be willing to pay them. That’s really it, to me, that ideology for the ideology of it, they bought a number three starter at market rate. They’ll probably get what they pay for. I think you’ll start 28 games and pitch to a three seven, right? Like that 165 innings. And what is that? What we want for 20 million? I mean, that’s

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Luke Jones  08:18

what you’re hoping for. I mean, the reality is, Nestor, I mean, $18.5 million isn’t that much for a starting pitcher in this day and age. I mean, you said the Orioles haven’t done a whole lot of this. I’ll go back to 2018 they signed, and I had to look this up. But if you recall, it was much later in spring training, and this was obviously the year where things completely crashed and burned. It was the end of the show Walter Duquette era, but they signed Alex Cobb to a four year $57 million contract. I mean, that was 14 plus million a year eight years later, considering inflation, all those different things that are inevitable in life, let alone talking about Major League Baseball salaries. So it’s not unheard of in that way, but you know, it’s a one year deal. I mean, it’s 18 point 5 million for a one year deal. It’s someone who, in recent years, I’m going to use it more in terms, it’s

Nestor Aparicio  09:07

12% of the payroll, right? I mean 50 last week. I mean it’s just, it’s a lot of money. It is and they’re not making sales. They’re not making they can’t justify it internally. Katie can’t justify that spreadsheet wise, and neither can Elias, because I do think when you you have to go say, Mother, may I unless they said your payroll is 175 your payrolls 180 call us, because these are not small decisions. They sound that way in the AGA type. But Don rovac, I know you’re listening, and Katie and Mark, I know you’re listening. Tell our audience when you come on my show, which you’ll never do, how many deals you have to sell to get 18 and a half million dollars into the till? How many club seats you have to sell? How many humans you have to find, how many hot dogs you’d have to sell, whatever the number. Be that they’re trying to make a business and make it work here, and that was always sort of a weird, I’m not sure the Angelos has ever understood business other than, you know, screw them, send the bill. You know. I don’t think they really had professional bean counters the way Katie Griggs is going to school for this and I it’s an investment, and I see it from a fan’s perspective, as they feel more serious. To me that’s all that they’re not playing with $42 million payroll anymore, like they’ve gotten in in their row in the boat. And I can go on the radio fairly even as a non credentialed person, and say, Okay, I mean, you pitched 48 hours ago. They didn’t have enough pitching, and they went out and they added a lot of money and a big payroll piece to something you’ve already given a stamp of approval. They’re a better baseball team every fifth day than they were last night, and they haven’t done a lot of that. Alex Cobb didn’t do that, right? I and I don’t think you and I went go back to what we said about it that day, because we have it on tape. I don’t think we looked at it as a sincere move, and it was a lot of money. But I don’t think we love the move, and I don’t think they’ve done anything dumb this off season either, right? Like, so we’re judging all that they’ve done to be the Cardinals. In totality, they’ve been very fruiting with the money to give themselves more flexibility. They still have mayo. They haven’t even dealt off pieces. We thought that might be July pieces, if they’re 10 games over 500 which we want them to be, and they’re planning to be right. So I, I don’t know. I just, I think they’re trending in the right direction, doing these things instead of splashing the wrong things. Alex Cobb being an example of that. That’s all.

Luke Jones  11:55

That’s fine, yeah. And I mean, one thing I do want to point out here, I mean, let’s also not act like the Orioles had the payroll, the pirates and the A’s for the the entirety of the Angelos era. I mean, it was really only until they really got to the point where they were doing, they brought in Elias. They were doing the tank rebuild multi year. What? However, you want to also

Nestor Aparicio  12:15

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had a lot of money. I want to crying for them. The massive thing was throwing money off. They were cheating the fans. They were cheating the Nationals. They really were, I mean, they were tourniquetting the revenue. I mean,

Luke Jones  12:29

but, but my point, but my point is they were even in years where they were not making good decisions. You kind of look at it historically that, I mean, the payroll until the the Elias era. I don’t think the payroll ever dipped below, like 23rd in baseball, right? Generally, it was somewhere in the neighborhood of, like the 21st 20th, all the way up to in 2016 they had the ninth highest payroll in baseball, right? I mean, so, you know, Peter

Nestor Aparicio  12:58

got back involved and wanted to win, right? Like sure and Peter gave all that money to Chris Davis and didn’t give it to Nelson Cruz, and here we are, right?

Luke Jones  13:06

My point, My point isn’t to pat them on the back for that. It’s more so to to not make too much of this in the sense that they’re spending money with the basset deal. Now, I think that puts them just over what they what, what they were their payroll was last year. Um, so great, right? I mean, it doesn’t mean they have a top five payroll. I don’t think you need to have a top five payroll necessarily to win in Major League Baseball. It certainly helps over the long haul to have more payroll flexibility, more so to keep your own guys than anything, as we’ve seen with the Ravens for years and years where they spend to the cap. But it doesn’t mean that they go out there and they’re buying six or seven higher profile free agents every off season, so it’s great to see. You know, do I think Chris Bassett is going to be someone that moves the needle dramatically?

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Nestor Aparicio  13:57

No, I like this better than Craig Kimbrel two years ago as an example, right?

Luke Jones  14:02

I like it better than Charlie Morton and Sagano last year, right? So he’s going to be 37 later this month.

Nestor Aparicio  14:08

Yeah, I’m not going to compare him to Charlie Morton. That’s not fair to him. This guy’s been durable. Is the word. First thing you said durable.

Luke Jones  14:15

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Hey, at the same time, let’s not completely defecate on Charlie. Charlie Charlie Morton had a heck of a career. It’s just they had him at age 41 right? Even Charlie Morton, a couple years prior to that, was still an above average pitcher. I can

Nestor Aparicio  14:30

write a poem, you know, with how many old pitchers they brought in who didn’t get it done, because we’ve been waiting 43 years. So they had a picture that’s

Luke Jones  14:40

gotten volatile. A year ago, at this time, everyone was crying that they didn’t resign Corbin burns. And look what’s happened with Corbin burns, where the Diamondbacks are hoping to get them back later this summer, right? I mean, you just Chris

Nestor Aparicio  14:51

Bassett has to start game seven to get you to the World Series or win the World Series. I’ll live with that, you know? I’ll live with that if they get to that point, if he’s. Part of that, you know, like, Okay, I’ll live with it. I mean, and I don’t think 36 or 37 is 41 or 43 in the case of Verlander, you know Joe Flacco, and

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Luke Jones  15:10

go look at his splits. Last year, he had a better era in the second half of the season than the first. His September was excellent. And I’ll point this out, because, no, I don’t think he’s someone, if you’re looking at this thing on paper right now, no, he’s not someone I would pencil in to be starting in the playoffs. But I’ll point out, go look at his numbers pitching out of the pen for the Blue Jays last postseason. It’s really well, so old series, right? I mean, you know, right? I mean he would, he they shortened them up. I mean, he had made seven appearances. I think it was around nine innings, eight and a third, something like that. Eight in the third, something like that. The Ra, yeah. I mean, yeah. So, so there you go. There’s a situation, and I we talked about this a few days, literally, a few days ago, with Dean Kramer, right? I view Bassett through the lens at this point in his career, he’s kind of a better version of what Dean what you look at Dean Kramer is being he’s been slightly above average, unlike Kramer, who’s been much more of a league average to at times just a hair below league average starter, but he’s going to give you innings. He’s going to give you a chance every five days. I think now, when you look at their depth and here’s the trickle down effect for this on paper, they now have the starting rotation depth to put themselves in a position where you should be barring multiple injuries, which, Look, everyone wants depth at the same time, there are only so many veteran starters that you can stash on a roster. I mean, that’s just the reality. That’s why it’s nice having guys with options that you can send down the way it’s looking, I’m guessing now borrowing multiple injuries. Kate Povich is going to be a triple A. That’s a good thing for the Orioles. And I don’t mean that to be disparaging to Kade Povich as much as there’s someone that if you have two or three injuries at some point during the season, and Kade Povich can has to come up. He’s made some starts, and he might be better than he’s had been the last couple years. Point is you can’t just stock up on seven or eight veteran starters who don’t have options, because where are you putting them? Right? I mean, yeah, you can talk about a six band rotation, and I’ll get to that in a moment. But I think the biggest thing that jumps out for me with this move beyond the fact that Bassett has generally been kind of a two, two win pitcher, and what I mean by that is wins above replacement, right? Two wins above replacement, he’s been a guy that, you know, I think what, he won 11 games last year. He’s been a guy that, like I said, has generally been a sub four era kind of guy. He’s been a guy that, if he’s your number four starter, you feel, you feel pretty good about that. I mean, you do, because he takes the ball, he’s, he’s a guy that pretty consistently you can count on to make 30 starts. You know, he’s been 170 inning kind of guy. You’ll take that and and by the way, that’s worth 18 point 5 million in today’s game, because you kind of look at it from an analytics standpoint, and I’ll get nerdy here for you just a moment. I mentioned wins above replacement. It was, and this is even kind of dated, but for the longest time, it was kind of viewed that on the open market, every win above replacement for a player was generally worth about $8 million that’s changed. That’s gone up a little bit. So if you look at it through the lens of what he was last year, which was 11 and nine, 3.96 his wins above replacement was 2.1 what that means is he’s worth 2.1 wins more than a replacement level starting pitcher. So that that generally says, especially at this point in time where you want to get them in the camp, you didn’t want to do this three weeks from now. That’s the last thing you want, if you want to talk about historically, looking at pitchers who’ve signed deep in the spring training for the Orioles and elsewhere, it generally does not go well. I mean, Kyle Gibson was an extreme example last year. It’s a precise art it. I mean, it’s such a it’s such a routine thing. I mean, it’s so critical. So to get him into camp at the beginning, he’s gonna be a couple days late. That’s no big deal, assuming he’s in shape and all that. And now you’re going to get him in a place where he should be good to go by opening day, whether he’s going to be the number three, the number four, number five, whatever. So but ramifications for that. You’ve heard me talk about this recently. What have I had more concerns about than the starting rotation, the bullpen? Now you should have depth, the kind of depth on paper, because Zach Eflin, according to Elias, is good to go. He’s he’s full go, full strength. I still think it’s quite possible they slow play him, but it sounds like he’s doing well, because when he by March 10, no question, no question, but, but, but, when he underwent that back surgery back in August, at the time, there was a lot of question whether. Regardless of who he was going to be pitching for in 2026 whether he was going to be ready for opening day, it sounds like he at least has a chance there. So Tyler wells, prior to signing Bassett, I know Elias had mentioned they’re still going to stretch him out, work him out as a starter in the spring, which makes sense. If you have a couple arm injuries, then you’ve got to revisit this, or someone tweaks their hamstring, doing PFPs, whatever you’ve got to adjust. But I think this now puts Tyler wells on a very clear path to being in the bullpen, which helps. You know, I’m not ready to sign off on him being the automatic eighth inning guy, but I think he’s someone who has the profile with this stuff, that he could be a guy that factors into that higher leverage equation, and it makes your bullpen better. I still would love to see them at another bullpen arm. I’m not holding my breath that that’s necessarily going to happen right now, but I think that’s something they need. But at the very least, you’ve done this. It now puts Tyler wells in a in a position where it looks like he’s going to be in the bullpen, barring multiple injuries, which, again, not to say it can’t happen. The plan anyway, right? There’s right, that that’s kind of what you wanted to do. The other factor, and I’ve alluded to this, and while I’m certainly not of the mindset that you arbitrarily need to limit Kyle bradish’s innings to an extreme degree at the same time. We have to be realistic about Kyle Bradish in the sense that he threw 32 innings of major league ball last year. Now, he had a long build up in the minor leagues as well, so he threw innings down at triple A with his rehab assignment, and he only threw 39 in the third innings the year before, can you count on Kyle braddus throw to throw 185 innings for you this year? That’s really ambitious. That said. That’s not me saying you need to restrict him arbitrarily, and he only throws 100 but I think now on paper, and obviously, you’re keeping your fingers crossed, you’re crossing your fingers, you’re crossing your toes, you’re saying prayers, whatever you want to do. But on paper, when you add Bassett to this mix now, so you look at their top six as as as it stands in mid February, which isn’t worth a whole lot, but it’s all we have to go off of right now. But you have Kyle Bradish, you have Trevor Rogers, you have Chris Bassett, you have Shane Boz who, I still think his upside is going to be so critical to just how good this rotation is going to be. And then you have the rotation closed out with Dean Kramer and Zac Eflin. And I just, you know, that’s not the exact order it needs to be, but those six, it does make me wonder if Mike Elias and Craig Albernaz Look at this thing, and as much as I’m not a big fan of a six man rotation indefinitely, because the reality is, starters don’t go deep, and I don’t think that changes, because you do a six man rotation rather than a five man it puts more strain on your bullpen, because you can’t, you know, if you have a six man rotation, you can only have seven guys in the bullpen. You can only Rob bullpen. You can only roster 13 pitchers at a time. It does put strain on the bullpen if you try to do a six man rotation in the long term, unless you have a couple starters who are comfortable enough to give you a stint out of the bullpen if needed between starts. But inevitably, and we all know, because we’ve we talked about this at some point in time every year, because you have a couple rain outs or a couple make updates, or the schedule just falls a certain way, when you have that inevitable stretch in June or July or August where you play 18 games in 19 days, I do wonder if this puts the puts a six man rotation in play for two or three weeks at a time, at a couple different points during the season, because then that allows you to manage Kyle Bradish a little bit more not push him quite as hard. Trevor Rogers only threw 141 innings between the majors and the miners last year. Keep in mind, he had a knee injury early in spring last year, actually, before spring training, that delayed his start. So let’s face it, in an ideal world, they’re looking for Bradish and Rogers to be one too, right? And maybe Boz says something about that, maybe Bassett says something about that. I don’t want to eliminate. But on paper, Trevor Rogers was phenomenal last year. And Kyle Bradish is easily the most talented of their starting pitchers, and the most you know, go back to what he did in 2023 he was fourth. And Cy Young voting. I mean, by the

Nestor Aparicio  24:30

way, you haven’t thrown efflin in there yet. And Kramer, that makes six, right? Yeah, I mentioned that. I mentioned but, I mean, yeah, efflin is also one of those guys that they started, right? Let me Yeah, you know, so I don’t know. Is he a three? Is he a five? Is he injured? Is he well, today is the first day we’ve talked about him as an is and not what Bradish was last year, which is a might be, right? And as well, yeah,

Luke Jones  24:58

I mean Bradish last year we were talking. Him in a perfect scenario, he was going to be back after the all star break. He ended up being back, ultimately, in late August, when he pitched in the majors, but in effluents case, look, let’s be clear, back surgery is tricky, so I don’t think you want to put any unrealistic expectations on him. If he’s ready for opening day, great if they decide they need to slow play him a little more, and he’s more of a guy that is mid April, late April, early May. I don’t think that’s the end of the world. It’s a $10 million contract you got him on. That’s not, you know, that doesn’t mean he has to throw 200 innings to justify that contract. So that adding Bassett just gives them more depth. I think it does give them the potential to fool around a little bit with the six man rotation. Like I said, I don’t love the idea of a six man all year long. It’s tough on the bullpen. I do think times where you have a few more off days built in, I think you do run the risk of guys if they’re only working every seven or eight days, you know, and some of

Nestor Aparicio  25:59

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those early part of the season usually need four, not five, yeah, six, yeah.

Luke Jones  26:05

I don’t think you’re gonna do six. That’s right. I don’t think you’re gonna do six out of the

Nestor Aparicio  26:09

gate, right? The other thing is, nobody’s going six innings, right at all, especially live innings opening day out of Trevor Rogers, you feel good about it? Yeah.

Luke Jones  26:17

I mean, in this day and age, Nestor, I mean, think about it. I mean, I don’t have it in front of me right now, but the Orioles starting rotation, forget about the Orioles, because this Oriole starting rotation was bad for most of last year. But your typical starting rotation, I mean, think about it, those five slots or, you know, if you happen to go six slots, I mean, 162 games. You know, if your rotations averaging five innings per start, which probably is not far off, when you consider how many guys one don’t go that deep, how many teams generally don’t want most of their starters to go much deeper than that, because you get into third time through the order and bullpen and all that, and then this the starts where guys get knocked around and they get knocked out early. So just if we’re talking in terms of five innings per start times 162 that’s 810 innings right there. So you look at it, just start doing the math. You know what’s Kyle Bradish realistically going to give you, if he can give you 150 560 innings, and he’s still fresh and pitching his best in August and September. I’ll take that. I mean, the Dodgers have kind of changed. And look, I know this is a bad example, because the Dodgers have a payroll. You know that they they and the Mets have payrolls higher than everybody. But think about how the Dodgers kind of massage their rotation last year. I mean, some of the guys that pitched huge innings for them in August, September and October. I mean, they weren’t even healthy, right? I mean, so it’s really, you do have to look at a fleet. I mean, they did, but Right? But even some of those guys weren’t necessarily high, high price guys.

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Nestor Aparicio  27:55

I mean, Orioles had a fleet at the end, when Rogers and Bradish came back, that they had guys coming something interesting, yeah, yeah. I mean, and I think there’s a part for all the things we talk about, which would say they put themselves in a position, and I just looked at the April calendar. Mean they’re not going to play in warm weather till May. You know, like they they’re playing in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, right? They’re going to be in cold places and some days off, but not as many as maybe thinking of the season, because they got to get the Games in. I like, if efflin is not cool, if bradish’s arm falls off again, if what will deal mayo, we’ll go get another pitcher. If we’re three games over 500 and not 19 and 41 you know what I mean like, and I don’t, and we’ll get the holiday in a minute, because we’ve been at this with the pitching, and we’ll be at it for by the way, Luke Jones is here. I would say the holiday thing was the down and the up, and why are they making a deal last week for infielders? And there’s question marks and all of that. I would also give Elias the tip of the cap. Say they sort of know what they’re doing, in regard to their depth, in regard to what they feel like they need to do, and they still are still in a position of strength, because they’ve spent a lot of money, you know, to my way of thinking, they’ve spent a lot of money to get better. I wouldn’t they’re going to spend some more on relief pitching, but I do think they put themselves in a position to let this marinate a little bit, that they have more strength than they had the last two or three times. We’ve talked baseball here the last five or six weeks. When you’re like, they don’t have enough pitching, they don’t have it, they’ll, they’ll get more bullpen help, I guess, in the next 10 days, right? Because they know they need more help, right?

Luke Jones  29:43

Yeah. I mean, I don’t know if it’s going to come in the next look. I would like it to. But you’ve heard me complain probably about the bullpen more than anything, over the last three I mean, really, it’s wild. I was actually looking at this and you think back to like, 2022 when they first started turning the corner. And they were good the second half of 2022 their bullpen was top 10 that year in baseball, in the in the majors. They were ninth in era, 10th in bullpen. War 2023 their fifth right. They had Batista, all star closer. They had Yang your canoe, all star reliever, who came out of nowhere. We all know how great you win a lot of games just having that right, however you kind of look at it, and this is simplistic, but it’s not. Their bullpen has been a problem from the moment Felix Batista walked off the mound with the elbow injury two and a half years ago. I mean, it’s just the truth. I mean, 2024 I mean, that was Kimbrel year. There they were 23rd in the majors in bullpen era. Last year, they were 25th what’s interesting, and this is where I will stick up for them a little bit, just from a philosophical standpoint. They obviously did their sell off last July. They traded Baker, they traded Dominguez, they traded Gregory Soto. They traded they traded Kittredge right,

Nestor Aparicio  30:55

traded all the guys that they bought.

Luke Jones  30:57

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They did, however, I’ll point out that before the trade deadline last year, they were still 25th in bullpen era. And after the trade deadline, last year, they were 22nd they were marginally better. Point is, you can throw a bunch of money at a bullpen and it not necessarily help you. Craig Kimbrel was a great example of that. Gregory Soto was a great example of that. Dominguez was fine. Kittridge in the World Series, though, right? I mean, but the point is, do you really trust Sir Anthony Dominguez in the way that you know you you trust I don’t want to say Mariano Rivera, because that’s never

Nestor Aparicio  31:28

going to get a picture coming out of the bullpen with a better name. I’ll tell you that right now, unless they get themselves a king or a prince. Sir Anthony is pretty damn good.

Luke Jones  31:36

I have no problem with Sir Anthony Dominguez. Point is, they had a higher price bullpen last year, and it still wasn’t really performing at all that high of a level. So you look at 2026 now they traded Cade Stroud, I will point out Blaze Alexander. They made that deal the day before holiday broke his ham eight bone. So now I think the reality was, and we’ve talked about the roster makeup, the roster makeup is clunky when you look at the bench. I mean, right now. So what’s going to happen with Mount castle and mayo? I I can guarantee you, both those guys aren’t going to be on the major league roster. Now, if they decide to keep mount Castle, may or may be in triple A to start the year, or maybe they decide the DFA mountcastle, or maybe they trade one of those guys right and

Nestor Aparicio  32:24

mayo hits 410 in spring training. Maybe they may do something

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Luke Jones  32:27

with maybe, maybe so. But you kind of look at it through the lens of where they were before the blaze Alexander acquisition, who was their utility infielder going to be Jeremiah Jackson. Go, look at last year. They played him in right field, much more so than any of the infield spots. And it’s not as though there weren’t opportunities. Westburg was hurt right so, so I think they looked at Alexander and they said, this gives us basically a replacement for what Ramona RIAs and Jorge Mateo had been in recent years. He can play second and third at, I would say, an above average level. You know, defensively, he can play short. He’s played a little bit in the outfield. He’s a guy that now I’m assuming. I’m not saying he’s going to play every single day, but with Jackson holiday starting the year on the i l, he’s going to play.

Nestor Aparicio  33:15

And what is the lineup now? What? What, what’s opening day look like without holiday? I mean,

Luke Jones  33:22

I mean the order itself, I don’t know, because not the order. But who’s on the field? Well, I mean to me, that’s pretty clear cut and dried, from the standpoint of, you know, obviously Adley rutsman Behind the Plate, Gunner, Henderson at short westburg at third, unless they now consider putting Westberg at second at times with holiday out, that would open up Kobe Mayo at third if you want to do that, I don’t love Kobe Mayo at third base, defensively whatsoever. Who do you love defensively on the whole roster? Really? You know, that’s a fair point, because I, I haven’t necessarily talked about this a whole lot recently, but it’s clearly not something they prioritize a whole lot.

Nestor Aparicio  34:05

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I hear Earl Weaver right now, and his voice saying, it’ll cost you a lot of games, Luke, you know, good like, literally, well.

Luke Jones  34:12

And I’ll also say this, I mean, it all depends what you prioritize. I mean, one of the big things about Billy Bean and Moneyball and the A’s back in the early 2000s he flat out, said he didn’t care about defense. I mean, they put Scott hattieberg, who was a catcher with a bad elbow, they just said, Oh, you’re going to play first base, because we love your own base percentage. The ball doesn’t get hit there that much. You know whether that was right or wrong, and certainly that cost them at times. And it’s different

Nestor Aparicio  34:35

than putting a bad corner in, and you can pick

Luke Jones  34:36

out so, so. But you know, since you asked me specifically about the defense. I mean, I’ll give you obviously now with holiday that that changes things a little bit. But let’s just say they stick with Westberg at third Blaze. Alexander plays second primarily. And you know, they can do some different things there, depending on that night starting pitch or whatever, but let’s say they do that. For me, it’s. Most Pivotal guy on this roster defensively. It’s gonna be Colton kauser. I mean, he’s right now penciled in to be the regular center fielder. I mean, they they have laodi Tavares, who they signed to a $2 million deal. He’s out of options. He’s very good defensively, but can’t really hit. So he’s more of a much more of a backup center fielder. So it’s going to come down to kauser. I mean, and for me, yes, we’ve talked a lot about his strikeout rate and his walk rate falling off last year, kauser was hurt most of the year. I mean, apparently he played with some fractured ribs even. I mean, last year was just a lost year for him. So I’m willing to not sign off on that. He’s just going to become a superstar. Let’s be clear about that. But I’m also going to recognize he was second in Rookie of the Year Two years ago. You know, he did something right? He’s talented. There’s no question about that. I think he can play center field at a solid level. The question is, can he hold up there on an everyday basis and stay healthy and be good enough there.

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Nestor Aparicio  36:03

He’s not questioning for all these guys are all blue chip guys, but Senator holiday is going to miss it bad. Westburrs had problems. Rushman has played through problems, specifically, whatever the issue. So all of these blue chip guys sure I can make a case in February that this is the year they’re going to figure it out, like, literally, I’m but I’m willing to go along with that, because Mike Elias is going along with that, and it’s his job, not mine, well.

Luke Jones  36:29

And if it doesn’t work out, then you start to wonder if you’re gonna have to make a change there. But, you know, they’re certainly not there yet, but in counselors case, it is a premier position, right? So if he can handle that and be solid there, he’s not going to win a Gold Glove, but can he be solid there? That makes me feel better about the corners, because you have Taylor Ward’s going to be in left and right field is going to be Dylan beavers or Tyler O’Neill. I think we’re going to see a lot of Dylan beavers. I think they’re going to try to maximize Tyler O’Neill’s ability to hit left handed pitching you’re going to see Tyler O’Neill. DH, probably on the days that Sam beside Oh goes behind the plate and Adley rutschman is off. Because I’m over the idea of Adley rutschman needing to be in the in the lineup every day he doesn’t hit, he hasn’t hit over the last year and a half to justify being a DH when he doesn’t catch and I do wonder if giving him true days off will help him in the long run with the bat being behind the plate, dude, I’ll

Nestor Aparicio  37:32

take 272, and 19 runs in 125 games with arrested Adley rushman and a coming On Samuel, beside

Luke Jones  37:41

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370, on base percent. Give me the on base percentage, you know. I mean, yeah, everything you said, I’m fine with, but we don’t need to see Adley. Ruts been DHing 40 times a year. I don’t

Nestor Aparicio  37:51

want to see him hit 208. And 140

Luke Jones  37:53

sure point, yeah. And really, I mean, like I said, the bat over the last year and a half hasn’t justified making him a DH when he’s not catching so, so I think the idea there is, I’d like to see Dylan beavers play a lot in right field and then Tyler O’Neill. It’s like, okay, man, Tyler O’Neill is a good hitter, but what exactly can you count on? I’m certainly not penciling him into the lineup and thinking he’s going to play 140 games. Can he play 100 games for you? Can he play 100 games for you?

Nestor Aparicio  38:24

So is he a matchup guy that gets left handed pitching? Sure, yeah, which then that would be a time where you’d say, okay, beavers or maybe cows are on a given night, you know, you know whatever you decide to do there. So well, they do have some flexibility in that way. Yes, they do, to your point to Billy Bean and to the ghost of Earl Weaver, yeah, I can hear Earl like after the second drink, Luke. You can put these some bitches anywhere you want. None of them are any good, you know, put them out there. They’re not here. They’re here for their bats. Well, literally

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Luke Jones  38:55

short, but however, they have a new coaching staff. One thing you’ve heard Elias and Albernaz this offseason in the times that he’s talked about the roster, they talk so much about their athleticism. So if you have athletic guys, coach them up, make them better defensively. Now, when I say that, do I think they’re going to have four guys that are finalists for the Gold Glove? No, but can you be better? Can you raise the floor defensively? Because the last couple years, their defense has not been near. I mean, especially their defense was lousy last year. So that’s part of it.

Nestor Aparicio  39:33

Can you give an indictment on Brandon Hyde? If that turns around to me, to the operation?

Luke Jones  39:39

Well, if you recall, as much as and obviously they pulled the trigger right before Memorial Day. But my biggest indictment on Brandon Hyde last year was just how sloppy they were out of the gate. You didn’t like it. I remember it made me fired. It did. I mean, what happened during spring training and what, how much of that was hide, how. Much of that was the coaches and the other question, and we’ve talked about this a lot, we’ll talk about a lot on the Raven side as well, how much of it was just the players. I mean, like the players have to be accountable at the end of the day. Ultimately, they’re the ones that go out there and throw and hit.

Nestor Aparicio  40:14

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There’s no question that where we are today as we sit here. Colton cowser, Kyle Stowers, Adley rutchman, Samuel besayo, Jackson, holiday, Jordan, Westberg, Kobe mayo, like I’ll throw all their prospects from four or five years ago into the till, wherever they are, Miami, Milwaukee, wherever. Kobe Mayo winds up for a pitcher, a pub, whatever they’re going to wind up doing, like all of those guys got to go out and do it in the same way that, you know, every other guy that was a late bloomer that had to figure it out or turns it around. Rushman better turn it around. Cows are better. Turn it around. Sure. Westburg Better get healthy holiday. Better get back on the field like beside you. Better be worth some of the money. And I’m looking at all these guys, and they were all in a tank in May of last year. And I’m looking at Albernaz, and I’m like, All right, yeah, this is, this is where you

Luke Jones  41:16

gotta Yeah, I mean, this is where. I mean Craig, Albernaz, you’ve Jesse mentor. I’m talking to you too, absolutely. And that’s why I said I made the connection with the rape. Like, it’s the same thing. It’s like, Hey, okay, players, it’s your part now. Like, if the coaching was not up to where it needed to be, then here we go.

Nestor Aparicio  41:32

And by the way, with the ravens, I’m not sold on Ronnie Stanley and Marlon Humphrey and roquan Smith. And like, I’m not sold on Lamar, yeah, you know. I mean, I’m just not sold that. That thing looked like a champion. So they pounded har ball, he doubled his money, and now they’re gonna go fresh and, you know, like, that’s what you do when you don’t win. So, yeah, but they didn’t change the players here. They changed the pitching a little bit made. I mean, I think they spiced up the pitching based on the money they spent. But let’s not they’re going

Luke Jones  42:03

back Pete Alonso. I mean, you know

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Nestor Aparicio  42:06

baseball, but they’re going back to all the Greatest Hits and even the greatest misses. In the case of O’Neill, who’s they gave him money they got to get, yeah, the money sunk. Give him the ball.

Luke Jones  42:19

But I will say this and this, this really goes with your point. Look, besides a different story, besides 21 years old and as a rookie, Dylan beavers is 24 and a half, I keep forgetting about him, by the way, yeah, you shouldn’t, because I think he’s gonna play a lot. I like, I like beavers. Yeah, I’m not saying he’s gonna become an all star, but I think I really like him to become a solid player. I do. I’m not going to say it’s going to happen instantly, but I think he’s a better player

Nestor Aparicio  42:47

than Colton kauser. Then that acquits them well, that at least somebody something baked out, you know. But I

Luke Jones  42:53

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think the reality is people kind of overlook the fact. And the rutsman just turned 28 years old. Gunner, gunner. Henderson is still 24 right. Gunner is the least of my worries. I gunner. It turned out exactly as we thought. He had a shoulder impingement. He still had a he still had a good year last year, he just didn’t have an MVP year. But if this is all going to work out, you’re hoping gunner becomes more like the MVP tier again, you know? And you hope that Pete Alonso helps him in that way. But the point I was making, Jordan westburg is 27 gunner Henderson’s 24 Okay, he’s, that’s still young, but gunner Henderson’s been in the league now a few years, right? He’s not a rookie. Rushman is 28 I mentioned beavers. Beavers is 24 he’s a rookie. You know, I give him a little more grace. Colton cows are almost 26 beside, like I said, is 21 right? I mean, Mayo is young. Mayo is on the younger side still. But some of those guys I just mentioned, I mean, these guys aren’t and that was the thing that kind of drove me nuts here, and how last year went. You know, you’ve heard Hyde say this, and I get it. You’re not going to throw guys under the bus publicly, but Hyde would say this. Mancelino would say this, Elias would say this. And they kept talking about their youth, their youth, their youth. It’s like you guys signed up for this, though, and you, you were the ones who said, we’re going to, we’re going to put all of our eggs in the youth basket. I mean, they didn’t add, you know, they added Tyler O’Neill last off season, right? They added Gary Sanchez last off season, who, by the way, I saw, just signed for what, a million and a half, 2 million, whatever, to go back to Milwaukee. But you know, if these are the guys that you had this much confidence in them, what happened that it failed to the degree that it did last year? And look, part of that is the health piece. And, you know, this is where, you know, we talk about a little bit about it was buying 41 year old pitching too. Oh no, but I’m talking on the, I’m talking on the position player side, the idea that, remember, we were talking about it at this time last year. We’re going to talk about the idea that if this team was going to get where it needs to go, it has to hit the baseball. And they hit. Hit the baseball last year. So they added Alonzo, great. They added Taylor ward. Good. You know, I think Taylor wards can be a really solid part of their lineup, even if, you know, I still don’t know if I’ll ever love the Grayson Rodriguez contract just or the trade in the sense of not getting some long term assets in return. You know, something that they could have long term in return, but whatever we’ll find out. Now, I know I saw Grayson’s throwing bullpens, and it sounds like it’s so far so good the first day of camp to the angels. So God bless but, but you just you look at this group now, they’ve added a couple vets, and you say, all right, Pete Alonso should take the pressure off everyone, including gunner Henderson Taylor, Ward should help stabilize their outfield situation. That was a mess last year, right? And at the very least,

Nestor Aparicio  45:47

should be Santon dares hurt again. Too

Luke Jones  45:49

terrible, right? I mean, five to six months, he’s gonna

Nestor Aparicio  45:52

I mean, you know, there was a point for me, Tyler O’Neill for them, I almost put out a tweet, but I’ve been so the Pam Bondi thing’s a much bigger deal than any of this, despite what Katie Griggs might think. But you know, I was gonna say, and maybe even in the beginning, I go back to 45 minutes ago in this segment, where I said they don’t spend $18 million on pictures and stuff like that, at the way they have here and how they’ve been prudent with money in various ways to not make a mistake. Corbin burns, Santander, they were a honey drop that would have been a mess for them, right? Sure, sure. And I mean, we’re looking at Tyler O’Neill’s a little bit of a mess until he’s not, right, but, yeah, I mean, they haven’t stepped into that. And for that, I would say, in a mid market like this, and you want them to be the Cardinals, that is a very good instinct to not step into that. Yeah, that’s fine, yeah, of course. And the money they took on in the offseason, although even Alan McCallum was a little tepid the morning after. And you’re like, and I’m and I’m not like, Pete who but I’m a little bit like it’s not selling them tickets. It might win them a championship. And if that’s like as the more we look at it in the press conference and how it looks for Pete Alonso, and the more we talk about the rest of this cast of characters, including holiday being injured, saying, who’s going to lead us, I’ll turn over the baked beans. Johnny Oates style for the old schoolers, who’s going to lead us? Who’s going to lead us? Well? Pete Alonso, it smells good right now to me. I mean, their offseason smells good to me, and it smells a lot better today than it did Monday, even though holidays hurt, yeah, but it doesn’t smell good to me. Henderson, holiday rushman, cows or Westburn. I don’t I’ll throw, I used to throw mayo in there. I’ll, I’ll leave the mayo off the sandwich at this point. But those five guys, if Alonso hits the moon and O’Neill hits to his number and hits 30 Homer, if those guys stink, he got nothing, I mean, so him bragging about the core, that’s going to have to be the engineer, even though I think Alonso is important, and I just they’ve done a nice job in the offseason, as I get the Valentine’s Day, which is why I didn’t beat them up November 15 or December 15 or even four days ago. I was more optimistic than you, because I’m still a guy that believes they’ll buy something, they’ll deal in July, but they just can’t not be competitive the first 90 days, no doubt. And they at least need to be a 500 kind of team. They don’t need to wow me. That would be great that they’re selling out the splash zone and people are excited, and they’re 12 games over 500 and a couple of these pitchers catch fire, and Henderson’s an MVP, like it through May like that would be great. That would be great to get that energy going, from a fan standpoint, from them making money standpoint, them being competitive standpoint, they don’t need to do all of that. They just need to get have things like holiday not get hurt. And that’s bad news.

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Luke Jones  49:03

Yeah, it is. And, you know, couple points and wrap going, since you just Yeah, exact shot for just yeah, you know, the holiday thing. It’s a bummer. It typically, I mean, the hemming bone. I remember Ken Griffey Jr did it 30 years ago. Marques did it actually the first you know that 2012 season, and you know it’s generally a six to eight week thing, which will put him. Should have him back by mid April, you hope. But it’s just so tough. He’s 22 you’re looking for him to take the next step. And anyone will tell you, with that handmade bone for a hitter, it’s one of those things. It zaps your power for a few months. I mean, I mean, generally, I don’t know if we’re going to see the absolute best version of Jackson holiday for whatever he was going to be in 2026 until July, right? That doesn’t mean he won’t be back, and that doesn’t mean he can’t be productive and and heck, maybe that’ll be something that forces him to fly. Focus on hitting mechanics a little more, stand inside the baseball things like that.

Nestor Aparicio  50:04

Maybe it’s gonna kill that kid, though, right? It’s gonna be tough being able to play. Yeah? Oh, sure. It’s a bummer, because I’m super young. Yeah, hadn’t happened before.

Luke Jones  50:13

He’s but he has a father who’s all very good. His father had injuries,

Nestor Aparicio  50:19

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so you and me would look at and say, he’ll work it out, but it is okay.

Luke Jones  50:23

But, yeah, it’s a shame. So so that. And then I want to go back to the point that you made. It’s very simplistic. They can’t start 16 and 34 again. I mean, let’s face it, and this is not to pat them on the back for how they played in June, July, August and September, but how they played in June, July, August and September would have at least had them in the mix. They still would have been in the wild card race, whether they would have been a favorite to do it or not. They absolutely buried themselves the first 50 games of the season, and nothing mattered after that, other than getting visayo up here and getting beavers

Nestor Aparicio  50:59

rough radio you and I had, it was between, like, April 20 and may 15 of last year, miserable because we sat here for eight weeks getting ready for and it just was, you and I were in Toronto. I mean, you know, it

Luke Jones  51:10

was over by my niece’s birthday that her birthday party was the day they canned Brandon hide. I mean, it was

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Nestor Aparicio  51:16

just terrible. So I call that Preakness day, but that’s okay. Yeah, it was Scarlet birthday. Is a big, big day. Oh, that’s how old I am. I know King leatherberry is, so, in

Luke Jones  51:27

fact, in fact, I’ve been talking with, you know, she does, Scarlet does, maybe she does listen to the show sometimes. So I’ll hold on, Scarlet, we’re, we’re playing, yeah, she

Nestor Aparicio  51:35

watches what I said about Earl Weaver. I didn’t mean Scarlet. I’m sorry. They don’t

Luke Jones  51:40

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watch every day, but, but, no, we’re kind of, we got to get her to an Orioles game this year. I’ll leave it at that. So she hasn’t been to one yet. Not to an Orioles game? No, she’s that might get me to the game. Yeah. So, so we’ll see. But we’re planning, but, but, yeah, to go back to that. I mean, it was over before Memorial Day. I mean, any baseball fan will tell you, Memorial Day is when the season is supposed to really start

Nestor Aparicio  52:01

getting birthday your beloved niece, May 21 21st All right, hold on, let’s see, or else playing the Tigers on the 22nd it’s a Friday night, or what are the Orioles game? May 22 right? Now, that’ll be seven weeks into the season, so that would probably be about 35 games.

Luke Jones  52:22

Just don’t, don’t be 10 games under 500 at that point. If you’re 500 then you can live with that. Just don’t be 15 games under and it’s over, right? I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  52:33

I’m not gonna give a record right now, because I’m, I’m gonna be the optimist about them on the field until more guys get hurt. But I don’t like the holiday thing. No, I don’t like the mojo of it, you know.

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Luke Jones  52:46

But keep in mind and look you. This is where I’ll push back a little bit. I still, before the basset signing, I still thought they were at 8788 which, by the way, that usually is good for one of the wild card spots. I don’t think they’re the best team in the division right now.

Nestor Aparicio  53:01

It would have been a good bet last week before they added guys, if I was so damn optimistic. So all these gambling sites, I could have been like, big Poppy with those. Pay me. Pay me. Pay me. Because, like, you could get them at 85 last week, and now they’ve added pitching. So this doesn’t

Luke Jones  53:16

which, I don’t think Bassett pushes their win total up more than a win or two. You know, like I said, in terms of wins above, replace,

Nestor Aparicio  53:22

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in my mind, he’s a guy that’s going to take the ball 2530, he is, we didn’t know about

Luke Jones  53:26

it, Dad, as I said to you, with Dean Kramer, and he is a guy that isn’t necessarily going to start games for you in October, but he’s a guy that will be important and get, if you can get there, he will be someone that’s important to doing that. So I like it. I’m not doing cartwheels over it, but like I said, it’s not the exclamation point to their offseason, but it’s a solid period, and I’ll take that at this point.

Nestor Aparicio  53:48

You know, I like that we add a Baltimore positive we have, like our transcripts and our summary. So like the summary, when I do it like this would be say, and what have we learned here? And what have we learned here is that I think they’re a better team than they were yesterday, and agreed by a lot, by more than two wins, whatever you nerds, war, war. Me, the only war that matters is the one. We’re going to start with Iran, because the President’s a pedophile. I’m Nestor. He’s Luke. We are W n s t am 15 70,000 Baltimore. We’ll be talking plenty of baseball around here. If there’s any more breaking news, you will get it first in the W n s t tech service. It’s all brought to you by friends, Nicole roofing and Gordian energy. And you could sign up over Baltimore positive. We’ll do some more baseball, but let’s get back to our regularly scheduled cup of Super Bowl and the good stories going on here at Baltimore, including maybe a competitive baseball team this summer. That would be nice. So what a press credential you.