There’s been plenty of excitement in Birdland with a pair of walkoff homers by Colton Cowser leading the Memorial Day way in extra innings. But as Luke Jones and Nestor moo about a few wins, the Baltimore Orioles still sit far below .500 and have lots of ground to make up with the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays parked at Camden Yards this week.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Orioles’ recent performance, highlighting their 3-1 win against the Tigers and the importance of their upcoming 10-game homestand. They noted the team’s struggles, including a 6-10 record and the need for better pitching and defense. Nestor criticized General Manager Mike Elias, advocating for his immediate dismissal, while Luke argued for patience, suggesting that significant changes might be more effective after the season. They also touched on the team’s attendance issues, ticket promotions, and the potential impact of the upcoming work stoppage on the team’s finances.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Verify details of the Orioles’ $10 ticket promotion (what tickets are included, any catches, and how long the offer lasts) and report findings to the hosts
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Compile a list of five interim front-office candidates to interview who could run baseball operations temporarily (90-day/short-term assignment) and be ready to discuss interview strategy
• [ ] Continue ongoing evaluation of the Orioles organization, including front office, manager, roster construction, and draft/trade strategy, and report notable findings over the coming weeks

Orioles’ Recent Performance and Upcoming Games

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Orioles’ recent performance, mentioning their win against the Tigers and the importance of the upcoming homestand.
• Luke Jones highlights the Orioles’ struggles, noting that they have only won three out of four games in over a month.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the upcoming games against the Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays, emphasizing the need for a strong performance to stay relevant.
• Luke mentions the defensive issues of the Rays and the Orioles’ ability to capitalize on them, leading to their recent win.

Orioles’ Pitching and Player Performance

• Luke Jones talks about the Orioles’ pitching, mentioning Kyle Bradish’s recent performance and the need for better performances from other pitchers like Shane Baz and Trevor Ross.
• Nestor Aparicio and Luke discuss the challenges faced by players like Colton Cowser and Jackson Holiday, noting their inconsistent performances.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of maintaining a positive attitude and continuing to win games to stay competitive.
• Nestor expresses his frustration with the team’s performance and the need for significant changes in the front office and on the field.

Mike Elias’ Future with the Orioles

• Nestor Aparicio criticizes Mike Elias’ performance as general manager, expressing his desire to see him fired.
• Luke Jones argues that firing Elias now would not be constructive and that it would be better to wait until the offseason to make any changes.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of firing Elias on the team’s performance and the need for a new general manager.
• Luke mentions the importance of evaluating the entire organization, including the front office and the coaching staff, to make informed decisions.

Orioles’ Ticket Promotions and Fan Engagement

• Nestor Aparicio criticizes the Orioles’ ticket promotions, particularly a $10 ticket deal, calling it a corporate move to undercut fans.
• Luke Jones defends the promotion, noting that it is a way to attract fans and generate revenue.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the challenges of filling the stadium and the need for better fan engagement and marketing strategies.
• Nestor expresses his frustration with the team’s business practices and the lack of fan-friendly initiatives.

Orioles’ Long-Term Strategy and Ownership

• Nestor Aparicio questions the long-term strategy of the new ownership group, expressing concerns about their commitment to the team.
• Luke Jones argues that the new owners are still evaluating the situation and that it is too early to make significant changes.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the upcoming work stoppage on the team’s finances and operations.
• Nestor emphasizes the need for the ownership group to take a more active role in running the team and making key decisions.

Orioles’ Player Development and Future Prospects

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the development of young players like Colton Cowser and Jackson Holiday, noting their potential and the need for better performance.
• Luke mentions the importance of player development and the need for the team to make adjustments to improve their performance.
• Nestor expresses his frustration with the team’s lack of progress and the need for a new direction in player development.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of evaluating the entire organization and making informed decisions to improve the team’s performance.

Orioles’ Performance in the American League

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Orioles’ performance in the American League, noting the competitive nature of the league and the need for the team to improve.
• Luke mentions the importance of winning games and staying competitive to maintain fan interest and support.
• Nestor expresses his frustration with the team’s performance and the need for significant changes to improve their standing in the league.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of evaluating the entire organization and making informed decisions to improve the team’s performance.

Orioles’ Future and Fan Expectations

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the future of the Orioles and the expectations of the fans.
• Nestor expresses his frustration with the team’s performance and the need for significant changes to meet fan expectations.
• Luke mentions the importance of maintaining a positive attitude and continuing to work towards improvement.
• Nestor emphasizes the need for the team to make significant changes to regain fan trust and support.

Orioles’ Management and Ownership Decisions

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the management and ownership decisions affecting the Orioles.
• Nestor expresses his frustration with the team’s management and the need for new leadership to take the team in a new direction.
• Luke mentions the importance of evaluating the entire organization and making informed decisions to improve the team’s performance.
• Nestor emphasizes the need for the ownership group to take a more active role in running the team and making key decisions.

Orioles’ Performance and Fan Engagement

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Orioles’ performance and the need for better fan engagement.
• Nestor expresses his frustration with the team’s performance and the need for significant changes to improve their standing.
• Luke mentions the importance of maintaining a positive attitude and continuing to work towards improvement.
• Nestor emphasizes the need for the team to make significant changes to regain fan trust and support.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles win, Mike Elias, Colton Cowser, pitching issues, defensive metrics, homestand, American League, wild card, front office, ownership, fan engagement, ticket sales, baseball operations, player development.

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SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W N S T A M 1570 Towson Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. I would hold my lottery tickets up, I have them right here, but I don’t have any Maryland Crab Cake Tour stops planned because I have sort of summer things happening around here and rushes going on tour, but I will have the Maryland Lottery scratch-offs, the Maryland Treasures next time we get back out. I, I’ve been on the road a lot, but it does Fishmonger’s daughter last week. We had great chats, hope you hear them, and I hope you get out there and enjoy the new restaurant in Catonsville. Make sure you stop by, see Dami, see how beautiful it is, and it’s very elegant. So, it is. If it’s a special occasion, get on at the Fishmonger’s daughter. We did last week. We’ll be hearing those things all week long. Here, I had Sean Merriman check in, my dude Phil Weiser, who’s reuniting with Child’s Play on Saturday Night, down at Reckless Shepherd, a brewery, but the Oreo magic and some Oriole Tragic, a little bit of mix of this and that, and double headers, and weird weather, and sub 500 baseball, but Luke Jones. All I can say is, moo, moo, moo.

Luke Jones  01:13

Yeah, I mean, okay, I mean, they lost a game to the Tigers, but this is only the third time in over a month, they’ve even won as much as three out of four. I mean, this

Nestor Aparicio  01:26

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is verified air. Yeah,

Luke Jones  01:28

I mean, it kind of has been for this club, and I wrote this at Baltimore positive.com on Friday before they were able to play between the raindrops in a game that was on Apple that I think very few people in Baltimore watched, and there weren’t many people there, because the weather wasn’t great, obviously. But I said it at the time that if you’re trying to chart out a path for this team to be relevant, interesting, somewhat hanging around in the wild card mix, I really looked at this homestand, seeing how disastrous the Tigers have been, and they’ve been a bigger dumpster fire than the Orioles so far this year, and seeing what the Toronto Blue Jays have been to this point in the season, which is a team that’s been below 500 since early April, and they have four games with them coming up beginning Thursday. I looked at this 10 game homestand and I said, you know what, if this team wants to remotely stay relative, relevant, or be taken even somewhat seriously as we move and turn the calendar into June? They need a seven and three home stand, and if they don’t do that, then, well, they’re going to be closer and closer to double digits below 500 and then the season’s shot well, seriously, three seven would be the end, sure, sure, but so if you look at it through that lens, and look, I’m not saying whatsoever that they’re quote back or that things are suddenly looking great, because they still have all kinds of issues, but they’ve won three out of the first four in this home stand, and they beat the Rays on Monday in a game that, regardless of what kind of season you’re having, it’s just a wild game, right, back and forth, not really a whole lot of crisp baseball from either side. I mean, one thing about the Rays, and I said this to you in passing during the last series down at the Trop, if you look at them for all their success, they are not a good defensive ball club. Their defensive metrics are kind of in the neighborhood of where the Orioles are. The difference is they pitch at a higher level, and they are much better offensively, as far as their consistency and putting the ball in play, and all those things.

Nestor Aparicio  03:34

And they’re smart, like when Jackson Holiday’s playing third base, they’re just laying down bunts and just seeing whether he could or not,

Nestor Aparicio  03:40

sure,

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Luke Jones  03:40

but, but, but they kicked the ball around, they threw the ball around. I mean, it’s a reason why, one of the reasons why the Orioles were able to win this ball game. But it was a nice win, it was a good series win over the Tigers. I mean, you would have liked to have gotten a swept a sweep, obviously, but all right, keep winning, right? I mean, like, that’s that, that’s the very simple message here. You’ve won three out of four, you’re back to what, six games under 500 as opposed to eight. If you can, as I said, you know, if you can have a seven and three home stand, that puts you at four games under 500 as the calendar officially turns to June. Doesn’t mean you’re fine, doesn’t mean you don’t have issues, doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be major doubts, because I think we’ll continue to have major doubts about this team, at least, at least until they start pitching better and playing more consistently. But if you can keep winning, and you can be in that territory from a math standpoint, I’m not ready to call you dead on june 1, right? I mean, four games under 500 that’s not insurmountable, but you’ve got to keep winning, and you’ve got to keep finding ways, and we’ve talked about it. I mean, Kyle Bradish, again on Monday, is looking like the Kyle Bradish of old, right? That’s great, you’ve got one, right? Shane Boz has been better his last couple times out. He needs to continue that. They need better, they certainly need better from Trevor Ross. And didn’t get that on Sunday, they need better from Bassett, and you know his last time out was not horrendous, but certainly wasn’t great by any means, and they’re kind of doing the opener thing,

Nestor Aparicio  05:11

see, it’s different with Basset this year than it was with, like, Sagana last year, some of these other, even Kyle Gibson, you know, toward the end, or whether, whatever, Alex Cobb was, by the way, I researched they’re still paying him. I didn’t realize that, but

Luke Jones  05:26

who, Cobb, what? I guess there was a lot of deferred money in that.

Nestor Aparicio  05:30

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Yeah, it was. I looked, I haven’t

Luke Jones  05:32

looked at it in a lot.

Nestor Aparicio  05:33

Yeah, I was going through the because I, I took a pretty harsh stand on Friday afternoon before the holiday about firing Mike Elias, and I haven’t read it or talked about it. 10s of 1000s of people have seen it, because I’ve seen the metrics on it, especially on Facebook, but and a lot of comments and whatnot, a lot of angst after the sweep last week, and all of that. But

Nestor Aparicio  05:56

sure,

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Nestor Aparicio  05:58

if he’s a dead man walking, all of the rest of this is what you would say is eye wash. I don’t know that they can climb back into a race at this point. I do know that it’s exciting when Colton Cows reads a couple walk-offs, and you know I want to talk about that with you, but I do think there’s a point for them with relevance and where the ceiling would be, and what we were thinking two years ago, which is, oh my god, this is an organization on the cum. It’s kind of over with, right? I mean, there can be none of that, right? I mean,

Luke Jones  06:33

I mean, define that for me. I mean, are we, are we just, are we declaring everyone’s a bust? And I mean, look, there there are issues, and I’m not going to sit here just after they won a couple games and say, okay, well, Michaelias is safe, right?

Nestor Aparicio  06:45

Was there any Colton Cowser is really going to be able to do this and be a 270 hitter and be a 12 year big league ball player? And

Nestor Aparicio  06:53

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sure, there

Luke Jones  06:54

is, because he was second in Rookie of the Year two years ago. Now, that doesn’t mean that I’m, I’m young players are are messy in development, like, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Colton Cowser is going to become an all-star, right? I’m not saying that, but we’ve seen him be a productive player in the major leagues before, we’ve seen him be much better than what he’s been this year, right? So I’m not going,

Nestor Aparicio  07:18

we could say that about Ruchman last year versus this

Nestor Aparicio  07:20

exactly,

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Luke Jones  07:21

exactly, and that’s kind of the point I’m trying to make here. Like, look, has this been disappointing? Has this been what it was advertised to be three years ago? Of course not. I’m not going to sit here and defend it through looking at it through that lens, but at the same time, I’m also not going to sit here and say, oh, it’s a fate of complete. Colton Cows are never going to be a productive player. Is he ever going to live up to being a top five overall pick? Well, at the same time, go look at some other number one overall picks around baseball. If I take the top five picks the last 30 years in big leagues, man, take the number one overall pick. Nestor, I mean, look at the Twins, just sent down their former one one right, Henry Davis, the catcher for the Pirates, go look at what his batting average is, and we complained about Adley Ruchman the last couple years, and he was a one one, so I think there’s a middle ground here, there’s plenty of room for disappointment, I’m with you in terms of looking at Mike Elias and wondering if they absolutely need to have a full blown change, as far as top to bottom, they certainly need to make adjustments in how they view things. At the same time, I’m also not going to write off every single thing as bad, that there’s no redeeming quality to this. I mean, we’ve talked about Samuel Bisayo, for example. I’m really encouraged by how he’s looked as a 21 year old catcher, but more so as a hitter, right? I mean, you know, the catching has come along a little bit, but I don’t know if he’s ever going to be a guy that’s going to catch 130 games a year, but he might be a guy that can continue to continue to be a part time catcher, part time DH, part time first baseman, and be a really valuable player with the bat. So I hear what you’re saying, and we’re gonna have so much. I guess my point is, we’re gonna have so much time to talk about that over the course of the summer. If, if what this last weekend is, is what all it is, is well, they won three out of four, and if

Nestor Aparicio  09:14

Elias is the one dealing with Ruchman on the pin five weeks from now, and you’re gonna fire him on october 10, anyway, then I don’t, that’s just not good business to me to allow a dead man to walk, if that’s what it is, and in my mind that’s what it is, that’s not to say that Michael Ice won’t still be the guy running the place four years from now, I, I mean, I have no idea what David Rubenstein and Michael Araghetti are going to do any more than what Peter Angelos was going to do. I knew Peter Angelos was going to be unorthodox. These guys, I don’t know, they’ve allowed Greg Bader and Jennifer Grandal to keep their gigs, basically. They brought in, you know, people, they’ve got a fledgling Nestor. Work, they’ve got a strike pending, a labor problem pending. They have all sorts of issues with the stadium and trying to fill it and get people down there and trying to win, and all they have a lot on their table that’s just baseball, that’s just what Katie Griggs and Don Rovak has to deal with. By the way, little aside, I know you, you know, I don’t follow their social media because it’s so Pollyanna, and it’s so not made for me, it’s not made for anybody with critical thinking, it’s made for fanboys, right? So I mean, in a terrible way, really, like in a way, but I did see that they were doing either after the first walk off or the second walk off. There had been so many walk offs that we have to, but nonetheless they were doing a $10 gig, you could buy $10 until like midnight tonight, or

Luke Jones  10:54

they extended it after the second walk off. By

Nestor Aparicio  10:56

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now, by now, so I haven’t looked it up, all right, and I’m going to be a prick in a minute about dogs, but I didn’t look it up, so I don’t know what the catch is, what the hook is, what the scam is, what the whatever, but if tickets are 10 bucks today to buy any game I want the rest of the year, and I get a bobble head, or what, like they just undercut everybody that paid full price, but nonetheless, I don’t know, I don’t know what it is, but I saw $10 ticket, and I thought, well, if you want to go to a game, if you had a game, and if this were you and your niece, and they hit me two weeks ago about this, I would have spent 40 bucks on you guys instead of what I spent, and you guys would have gone to the ballpark for 10 bucks, but they haven’t had $10 tickets, they have had 12 and 13, and whatever, but it feels to me like, hey, we had a walk-off, get excited, pay now, buy now, like they are, they’re corporate, it’s not Chuck and Brooks, and you know, Boog anymore, it’s very, let’s get their wallet while we can get it, let’s get them in while I can get them in while they’re excited, not a bad idea, not bad business at all. Get all the $10 I don’t know how many they sold, and I think it’s a wonderful idea. And if I were all shimmied up to give them 40 bucks and go down a couple of games, I would give them 10 bucks and pick a couple of games and go much quicker than I will pick $38 and go down there to see Mandalorian night, or whatever. I just feel like it’s not a $40 effort for me, it’s a $10 effort, that that’s but dogs, they were promoting the dog night the other day, and I’m like watching it, and I put in the little thing, and I actually went to their website, which I rarely do, and I went to their dog night, they charge you 20 bucks for dog to get in, I didn’t know that it made me laugh. I’m just saying, but this is these people running this business. This isn’t Peter anymore, it’s not John, it’s not Nasty Nestor, and Free the Birds, although it is the 20th anniversary, and I look at it and I’m like, man, a stadium’s empty, people are going to be canceling subscriptions if they’re not any good, we all know that, right? Because that’s that’s now on the table, that that’s the new weapon on social media, right? Is I’m going to cancel my subscription to you, I’m going to cancel you for a month over 20 bucks, that this is imperative that Colton Cows or Jackson Holiday’s out there playing now, that this thing goes in a better direction the next 15 to 30 days, not just for Mike Elias, because I would have fired him a year ago, and I’m just.. I’m done with.. I just wanted to say my piece on that, to say every minute forward I would have made a change in that department last week, I’d seen enough for the fans for trying to move the boat in a different direction, ideology. ideologically beyond my $20 dogs and $10 tickets and marketing stuff, but I don’t think the team’s good enough, no matter what. I’ve seen enough of it. We’ll talk Basset, we can talk Boz, talk all of that, the bullpen. I just. I’m not a believer anymore,

Luke Jones  14:03

and I’m not saying I am. There’s four months of baseball left, like you and I. I mean, if we just want to run on repeat what we’re, what we’re talking about right now, we can sleep in for the next four months, right? I guess the point I was trying to make is improvements can be made, and I’ll even give you an Orioles-related comparison. When Andy McPhail left at the end of 2011 there were.. there was no perception at that point in time that the Orioles were on the verge of making the playoffs three times in the next five years. There was not that.. there was very much a perception, not that Matt Wieters and Adam Jones and Nick Marquez, and you know, go down the list, and we knew Machado was going to be arriving. We didn’t think necessarily as quickly as he did. They

Nestor Aparicio  14:47

were owned by Angelo, so at the top of it, there, there was very hard to believe that they were going to work. Players sign players invest money. That’s what I was on the radio then, so I know what I, you know, like, like every day. The belief had nothing to do with Buck Showalter. It was like, why did Buck take the job? There was zero belief the organization could win because of the owner, because of the Yankees, the Red Sox, and like all of that. I, that’s gone right 15 years later. We, there’s no reason to believe they can’t win. I mean, I, I’ve come a long way in that way of thinking to believe that it’s possible for them to win, because there was 10 years where I could. I’m with you. By 2011 there was no belief they could win. I’m not there. I’m not there.

Luke Jones  15:34

And the point I’m trying to make here is not that they didn’t have talented players at that point in time, but it was until you see it come together, that’s all it is, right? It’s hype and potential, and guys that you like, or guys that are a little disappointing, or okay, where are the gaps here? And Dan Duquette comes in, and not that Dan Duquette did a perfect job by any means, but there you go, it came together, and players got better, and they had played together for a few years, and they had failed together for a few years. That’s the point I’m trying to make. When I was kind of talking about Colton Cowser a couple minutes ago, and look, that’s not to say that this is all gone right, but by any means it clearly hasn’t.

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Nestor Aparicio  16:12

Right? I always ask, where the Nick Marques in him is, that’s all. And I don’t think he’s going to be a consistent player, right? He’s not going to be a consistent guy like that he’s not,

Luke Jones  16:21

but at the same time as I’ve, where I’ve had a little more patience for him than you, and he’s the best defensive outfielder they have right now. So right off the bat, it helps your pitching a little bit in that way, even if he’s not going to hit. He has swung the bat better of late, even before these last two walk-off home runs, and look, Colton Kauser has been disappointing over the last, you know, especially this year, but going back to last year, where he couldn’t stay on the field, right? This

Nestor Aparicio  16:49

is a prime of his career, that’s the other part, and

Luke Jones  16:51

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he’s 26 right? I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  16:52

yeah, he’s

Nestor Aparicio  16:53

not 21

Luke Jones  16:54

yeah, he’s not, but he’s not 30 either, right. So, so I guess the point I was trying to make, even, even if we’re going back to the Elias piece, and just the front office, and their future, and whether

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Nestor Aparicio  17:06

they are the ones making these decisions, they’re the reason holidays playing third base, they make these decisions, and then the results are the results, and the accountability isn’t the same, the accountability is fire the manager, let’s sign a guy from Japan. Let’s give, give $19 million to a 30-seven year old pitcher. You know, these are the decisions that they’ve made that have led to six games under 500 And other than some fun the last couple of days, the road to irrelevance. Now that the.. I’m looking out the window, it’s gonna be 80 today. You know, and it’s not 80. I want to go to the game tonight. It’s 80. I want to go to the beach this weekend, or get on my boat.

Luke Jones  17:47

I hear you. At the same time, the third wild card in the American League right now is 26 and 28 Now, let me be clear, that’s not the end goal. Like, that’s not the end game here. I’m not, I’m not saying it is. At the same time, are they out of it? No. Is it over? No. I said it to you at the end of last week. It feels over, but it’s not over just yet. And that’s because of the reality of where the American League is right now.

Nestor Aparicio  18:14

I’m laughing because I’m thinking graduation. I’m thinking the valedictorian and the guy that got 71% got the same diploma, I mean 26 and 28 If you can be the last wild card, and you can make the case, and Kevin Brown can sell that every night, and Rob Long can sell that every night, that they’re three games under five under, but they’re only three off the wild card, if that’s really the way it is on august 1. Okay, but and it might be, you’re absolutely right, it might just be,

Luke Jones  18:41

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and I’m not

Nestor Aparicio  18:42

a stagger for all of these teams to get the five games over 500 to bury somebody, because it just might look like 81 and 81 for everybody. Maybe

Luke Jones  18:53

I mean, it’s not going to be that. I think you’re still going to be looking at the last wild card spot. I think it’s still going to be a team that’s winning 8586 something like that. I don’t know if it’s gonna be much more than that. And

Nestor Aparicio  19:05

look, it’s eight games over 500 I mean, that’s not undoable, right?

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Nestor Aparicio  19:11

There’s one

Luke Jones  19:11

of two ways looking at this. I was actually talking to another Orioles reporter the other day about this. When you’re in the territory that they’re in, which is not what it was last year, right at this time last year, there were 18 games under 517 16, like it was over. Over the math was, you were gonna have to play like the 27 Yankees. Well, three

Nestor Aparicio  19:30

and

Nestor Aparicio  19:30

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seven this week would have put them on that path, of course, of

Luke Jones  19:32

course. And I’m not saying it’s a good path right now, it’s not. I’m not, I’m not trying to defend them and say that they’re fine. I’m saying that there’s a path here.

Nestor Aparicio  19:42

They got poop on one shoe, not two, but yeah, it’s but I will go back to

Luke Jones  19:48

the last time the Orioles won 101 games three years ago. Who represented the National League in the, in the World Series that year?

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Nestor Aparicio  19:57

Arizona,

Luke Jones  19:58

they won 84 games. That year now, again, does that mean the Arizona Diamondbacks are the goal here? Is that the vision here? No, of course not.

Nestor Aparicio  20:07

Well, the goal is to play a playoff game the first week October and take the chances.

Nestor Aparicio  20:11

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18

Nestor Aparicio  20:13

games, same thing, right? So, so

Luke Jones  20:16

I guess what I’m trying to say here is it’s not over. I’m not saying that’s going to, you know, galvanize anyone to the point where, you know, go out there and watch 20 games this summer in person or anything like that. I mean, the $10 ticket deal kind of stuff, they, and they’ve done flash sales like that the last couple years with, you know, various things that happen, someone’s debut, walk off home run, something like that. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  20:41

it’s an invitation to anybody smart to never buy a ticket until they make them 10 bucks, like, but some people bought some tickets today,

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Luke Jones  20:49

but they’re also not putting blood, also not putting box seats on sale for 10 bucks. It’s 10 bucks to sit in upper reserve, right? I mean, so there are different elements of that, but again, my point here is, look, you think Michaelias is dead man walking. I’ve said at various times that this year that it feels like you need to make more significant change than just the field manager, because they’ve already tried that and they’ve had the same exact issues. That said, firing Michaelias on Memorial Day compared to Flag Day, compared to the Fourth of July, like I don’t, other than the pound of flesh and the dopamine high that people, that fans will get for two minutes because they fired the guy that they hate right now because he’s done a lousy job. You’re not fixing the like you’re not hiring the replacement in June, you’re

Nestor Aparicio  21:40

harder on him than me. Sure, and my issue is the philosophy of these assets are not going to be managed by someone who does not have a future stake in them. That would be a philosophy. It would be the same reason that when you fire people in radio, you don’t let them go in and finish the week, even though everybody in the listenership wants them to. Like, I’m just.. this is just me being an almost 60 year old person, and thinking about this, like, if you’re really done with him, if he has no chance of surviving this, and that’s where I.. they didn’t hire him. So, like, in the very beginning of the beginning of the beginning, you’ve always said this, and you’ve never run a business. People want their own people, that you, they do, so you know they just do that. In this case, they left all of these people here, some of them good, some of them bad. I thought Mike Elias was a much better keep than Greg Bader or Jennifer Grandal, or the guy who was running the team that I can’t even remember his name, the guy that ran 1300 that hated me with the wife. Nonetheless, I literally can’t think of his name, but like Elias is part of that. He’s an, he’s an Angelo’s guy, so I would think the Araghetti in me, or the Araghetti in the people that I’ve seen like him, would look at this and say that’s not my guy, it’s not going well. We did last place last year, we’re in last place this year. It’s not even knee-jerk, it’s just sort of like I’m not going to let him be the one picking the next round, the players, I’m not going to let him run another draft, run another trade deadline, only to fire him in October, and I didn’t say that in my blog, and you and I didn’t fight about it last week, and it was four days ago that I wrote it. Cows are at two walk-offs, but there’s still six games under 500 and I really wanted to do the dipstick with you and say, are you believing now you went down to the ballpark with 8000 people that they called 22,000 and there was a walk off that this team can be a contender, you’ve been selling me on the fact that the American League sucks, and that pitching is getting better for Bradish, and Alonso will wake up, and Henderson will be Henderson, and Ruchman looks like Ruchman, and Kauser’s got a spark, and Holiday’s back, and I’m, I’m okay with all of that, I’m even okay if they struggle into the playoffs and are the last wild card team. I still don’t know that I want Mike Elias to be the guy that I’m giving all the money to in the, in the off season’s weird anyway. I’m with you, dude, because of the labor stoppage. Maybe I didn’t think this through enough. Now that I’m thinking about it, if there ain’t no offseason, what difference does it make? Who the GM is? But maybe they feel that way, and they’re paying him anyway, and that would be another way to look at it, but I’m done with him, and I’m not even the one that’s ever been hard on him. You and Alan, and everybody else I’ve had on here, have been much more feisty about him and the fan base than me. I don’t know why that is. I don’t know why I don’t hate him as much as all the rest of you do or poke holes in all of it, but the fact that they don’t draft pitchers, and the fact that they don’t draft defense, and the fact that they don’t like in any way value defense, you’ve talked at length about that as a damnation, I’m seeing it in the in the. Results as being an extremely problematic philosophy that’s run the organization, when they were poor, broke, and losing, and wanted to lose. The idea was to lose, that’s what they put their fans through. And now they’ve been in last place two years in a row with new owners. I don’t know, dude, and a second manager, and they’ve spent real money on the a lot. They’ve given him a checkbook that hasn’t worked out, Basset O’Neill, on and on and on and on. No moss for me, that so I wrote a huge column on it, but I haven’t talked about it, and that’s all I got. And we can get back on to whether Jackson Holiday can play third base, and whether Alonzo sitting 300 this week, and or whether, when runners are in scoring position, holiday still striking out, Alonzo still striking out, you know, like all that went on in the eighth inning before Colton Cows were at the home run the first time against Tigers couple days ago, so they’re still just they’ve won a couple of games on walk-offs in like late, crazy 13th inning ways, it doesn’t change the fact that I think they stink, and that the record says they stink, and I think the general manager stinks, and I think a lot of it stinks, that’s

Luke Jones  26:13

all. What do you want me to say? That I disagree, and I think everything’s fine. I mean, I’ve, I’ve had the same conversations, and I’ve made many of the same talking points. I guess the point I keep trying to make is just because if you want to fire Michaelias just to make everyone feel better, fine, have at it. What are you doing with the draft? What are you doing with the trade deadline? Like, who’s doing it? Are you bringing in Cal Ripken to run it? I mean, that sounds way worse of an idea to me. That’s a terrible life, and I don’t,

Luke Jones  26:41

8

fans would

Nestor Aparicio  26:42

love it, but it’s dumb.

Luke Jones  26:43

Yeah, and I’m not, I’m not trying to, you know, I’m not trying to make it, but Cal’s catching strays here. I mean, he’s never shown an interest in Cal

Nestor Aparicio  26:49

knows he can’t run a train, exactly. I mean, come on. So, so

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Luke Jones  26:52

the point, and I’m just using that, but the

Nestor Aparicio  26:54

fans would then say they would call Rex Barney, but Cal knows someone who knows how to do

Luke Jones  26:59

that. Now that’s a different idea. If you want to talk about Cal being part of a search committee for how you’re going to hire the next president of baseball operations, that’s a much different offer. That’s a much different conversation.

Nestor Aparicio  27:14

8

Corporate BS that they’ll do with the Whistler, they’ll bring Adam Jones and Cal Ripken, they’ll say Ben McDonald’s got a voice, but you’re just to make stuff up. The idea is really doing it right to your point. Who’s really.. I mean, it’s.. it’s like, why did they have to pat Pisciotti on the back and let him pick a player in the draft, and and make a Johnny Bravo about all of that? Like, it’s ridiculous. Just run the team, run the team, find your next baseball, be an owner, own whatever your search committee is. It found Katie Griggs. I’m unimpressed. I’m unimpressed. And if that’s what they’re going to do, is run some search committee or shine up Cal Ripken in front of it, who’s unqualified to pick a current base. He’s not immersed in the sport, is he can he sit in the room? Yeah, does look good on television? Yeah, looking on the website, yeah, that’s fine. He’s just as good taking selfies with as David Rubenstein. Find someone who’s an expert who does what Mike Elias does that you like, that’s your guy. Own the team, run it, that’s what they need to do. They’re in last place again, and the fans are pissed, and they’re trying to charge dogs to come in, let alone people, and the, you know, and then they run a $10 promotion that they should sell a million tickets for. But I don’t even know if anybody picked up the phone. There’s, I don’t know, that anybody other than the sickos, that was your word, not mine. Last week, like you and me, people that love baseball, that are going to watch it, watching it, engaging with it, pulling my credit card out, giving my night, and showing up, and then running around with a cow hat on, is a whole different slippery slope of what they’re trying to do that has nothing to do with winning. The only thing that has anything to do with winning is who picks the players, and right now you think they got the wrong guy. I think they got the wrong guy. It’s not even their guy. I would just say, why wait till October? That’s all I’m saying on that. And I wouldn’t let him take another draft. I wouldn’t let him be the one architecting this, if I didn’t believe in him anymore, and I don’t anymore. I did two weeks ago, I was fine with all of this. I mean, I’ve never been an Elias hater, and, oh, by the way, 35 years, I want to point this out, for everybody really hates me. In 35 years, I can’t think of an occasion where I’ve ever opened this microphone on this radio station or any of my previous stops anywhere and said someone should be fired. The Ravens have been here 30 years. I’ve never ever called for the firing of March of Broda Billick Harbaugh, who was a creep, but I never called for his firing. I’ve never said this isn’t. Working, I don’t even know that I did that about Dave Trembly or Sam Perlaza, like I did. Free the birds, but I’m not the guy. Fire the manager, fire the general manager, call me. That was never my shtick. This isn’t shtick for me. I wrote 5000 words about how I feel about it, and I don’t know that I’ve ever taken a cheap shot at Mike Elias ever, but this isn’t working, that’s all. This isn’t working, and I wouldn’t let him run my team again for five more months, but the work’s toppage and other issues. I’ll hear all of that if I’m behind the scenes, but and I’ll even hear, like, well, what else are they going to do? Cal’s not going to run there. I agree with that, but I just think they,

Luke Jones  30:42

but someone’s got to run the team, and, and look, if you tell me what you’ll, you just want to make Eve Rosenbaum the interim general manager, then okay,

Nestor Aparicio  30:52

Buck, and that Buck come in for 90, that’s that’s not, he’s probably as connected as Cal, you’re right,

Luke Jones  30:58

I’m just Buck’s a good field manager. I’ll leave it at that, because I, because I have a great affinity for Buck.

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Nestor Aparicio  31:06

I know you love Buck,

Luke Jones  31:07

but I would

Nestor Aparicio  31:08

not love Buck, and you’d be upset with that. You would think that’s a circus. Yeah, okay.

Luke Jones  31:13

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Well, and again, that’s that’s where there’s nuance to the idea of they have drafted more pitchers the last couple drafts. Now, what? When you’re talking about the 2025 and 2024 draft, those aren’t necessarily players that are helping you at the major league level yet, right? I mean, we’ll see. They have drafted more pitchers the last couple drafts than they had previously. They, I mean, Enrique Bradfield Junior was a first round pick that was absolutely a guy that there are people right now. Now he’s banged up, he’s been injured too much the last year or two, which is another issue for this organization, top to bottom. But he’s a guy that there were thought there were some people that had the opinion that he had major league caliber outfield defense from the moment they drafted him. Right? I mean, that’s so I hear everything you’re saying, and look, I’m not even sitting here saying that I think Mike Elias, that a change shouldn’t be made. I just don’t,

Nestor Aparicio  32:11

you don’t like the timing of it, because I just don’t

Luke Jones  32:14

know. I just don’t know how constructive it is, right? Like, what’s the plan then? And I hear what you’re saying, in terms of, I don’t want someone that’s a lame duck to be making the picks at the same time that lame duck wants to continue to work in baseball, right. So, I don’t think you’re going to be a saboteur where you’re going to start making terrible moves on purpose, or or anything like that. And you know, I

Nestor Aparicio  32:35

think

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Nestor Aparicio  32:35

so. I don’t think it’s like I would never charge that. I would just say, once philosophically we’re going in a different direction. What I don’t want you picking in my groceries anymore,

Luke Jones  32:45

and this

Luke Jones  32:45

is kind of where I go back to the point I was trying to make about Andy McPhail to Dan Duquette. I’m not of the thought that it would be impossible that if you hire a new front office that they wouldn’t look at the collection of talent, you know, the collection of players that are there, whether they’re overhyped or, you know, we’re lamenting former first round picks or former top five picks not working out, blah blah blah blah blah, but I’m not so sure they wouldn’t look at that and be able to salvage more of it and make more of it look the way it’s supposed to look right, and the idea that a new manager or new coaching staff comes in, and it’s, you know, what everyone’s hoping Jesse Minter is going to do with the Ravens in 2026 right? The idea that there was a perception that many had going into 2025 that the Ravens were the Super Bowl favorite. Well, what happened there? Right, obviously they were hurt. They didn’t play as well. We’ve talked about the coaching clearly. Steve Brishadi ultimately said the coaching wasn’t good enough, so he made a change. He fired John Harbaugh. So part of the idea of what they’re hoping is going to work in 2026 is that new eyes and a new mind and new ears with not just Jesse Minter but the rest of the staff will make a difference, and that team that had so much promise a year ago at this time will realize that promise, and they’ll break through.

Nestor Aparicio  34:09

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The guy

Nestor Aparicio  34:09

who was the problem, Harbaugh, got 100 million, is a genius up in New York, right? So, Michaelias, yeah, I mean, I don’t know if

Luke Jones  34:16

it’s going to be as a general manager right away, but he’ll, he’ll, at the very least, be hired by someone to go run a draft, right? I mean, you know, be a farm scouting director, whatever. So, but, but I guess the point I’m trying to make is, look, this, of course, this has been a disastrous last couple years. I’m not going to sit here and say that, and Colin cows are hitting a couple walk-off home runs, doesn’t change my mind on that. At the same time, I’m looking at where they are right now in the present, understanding that you’re not going to replace a general manager. You’re not going to replace a general manager in June, right? I mean, I don’t like who’s the executive that’s just sitting on his couch right now, that would be the good hire right now. I have no idea, right. So my guess is. You’re going to be looking to hire someone that’s, you know, a lieutenant with Cleveland or Tampa Bay or Milwaukee, or something like something along those lines. Well, you’re not hiring that person in June or July, you’re going to hire that person in October. So, there’s that part of it. There’s the part of it where the American League is diminished top to bottom right now, other than the Rays, and I mean, even the Yankees have come back to earth a little bit here of late, but you look at that second and third wild card spot, you know those those spots right there. I mean, you’re talking about teams that are not markedly better than the Orioles right now, you’re talking about other flawed teams, that doesn’t mean that everything’s fine, that doesn’t give the Orioles a pass, that doesn’t mean that in a big picture I’m not asking the same questions, and even, even in some cases, clamoring for some of the same changes you’re talking about, but at the same time, in the meantime, there’s four months of baseball to play, and what can happen there, can this team, in the same way that they lost it almost overnight two years ago, right? We talked about it, almost felt like a switch got turned off. I don’t know, can that switch come back on, and it to some degree that makes this season bearable? I

Nestor Aparicio  36:17

guess switch would be the pitching in the hitting, yeah, it won’t be the defense, and the pitching will start with the starting pitching, and the hitting will start with Alonzo and Henderson being better.

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Luke Jones  36:26

Sure, I mean, yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  36:28

and Holiday being participatory. If not, I guess, for me, like,

Luke Jones  36:35

I guess the point I’m trying to make is, I, I’m not of the mind of having such a singular focus that it’s almost like if someone has the mindset that they’re so done with Mike Elias that you just want the team to lose and be terrible the rest of the way to leave no doubt. I mean, if someone wants to feel that way, that’s fine. I don’t know.

Nestor Aparicio  36:55

8

Listen, if Mike Elias is still the general manager three years from now, my blog will set up there, because, like, I would have made the change, that’s that, I mean, and again, I’ve seen enough. I would have fired him last year, and I’ve said this 100 times. When you fire your manager and you hide from the media, you’re hiding from Steve Mileski on a Saturday afternoon. I said it would have to show up in Milwaukee. It was

Luke Jones  37:18

leadership, yeah. I mean, it was not leadership, I mean, it wasn’t leadership, it was the opposite of leadership. I wholeheartedly agree with,

Nestor Aparicio  37:25

and now

Nestor Aparicio  37:25

they’re in last place again, a year later, after I gave him $200 million to spend in the off season. I’m done, I’m done, I’m done.

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Luke Jones  37:31

And that, and that might be, look, Michael Araghetti and David Rubens, I might be saying that right now,

Nestor Aparicio  37:36

tickets to sell,

Luke Jones  37:38

they might be saying that right now, but they also might be saying some of the points that I’m making, you know, we, we can’t hire a replacement and have that person in place for junior.

Nestor Aparicio  37:47

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I think there’s also a thing where there’s no season next off season, and most people in baseball believe that there won’t be – there won’t be an off season at the base. This is not an attractive position or job to be in to get whoever’s top of class, as Elias was thought to be. I mean, Eric DiCosta, when he told me about him, told John Angelos about him, he was top of class. So, and again, I’ve never been an Elias detractor. I’m going on the body of work, I’m going on things he’s done, decisions he’s made, things I’ve seen. I don’t know him at all. Both times I’ve met him, he’s lied to me, but they all lie to me. I’m a media member, and look at my hair – I haven’t shaved in a week. By the way, this is my New York Knicks playoff beard I got going on. Luke Jones is here. He is Baltimore. Luke, if you’re on the WNSD tech service, you always get everything first. It’s all brought to you by Cole Roofing and Gordian Energy. Big thanks to Bill. We had him on last week at Fishmonger’s Daughter, we did the Maryland Crab Cake Tour, presented by GBMC and our partners at Farnham and Dermer. They are the comfort guys. As it gets a little more uncomfortable outside, here warms up. Make sure that your AC is not on the fritz. If you had anybody call, call them: 410 36777 Luke’s wearing the gear, I’m wearing the gear. Couple more here, they’re going to be home for a week. Any, any parting shot you want to make on this?

Luke Jones  39:09

I mean, I hate to hear what I hate to think what our tone would have been if they had lost four over the weekend. I mean, it actually was a good weekend for them, but they’ve got to keep winning, like it’s that simple. Like I said, it, if they can go seven and three on this home stand, that puts them at four under going into the month of June. Is that, does that mean they’re fine? No, but they very much have a pulse at that point in time. And again, you look at, you look at the structure of the league, look, we can sit here and talk about the merit of the second wild card or the third wild card, it exists, so if it exists, you might as well play for it, right? And now that doesn’t mean I’m going to make some ill-advised trades with a pipe dream of, you know, them being better than what they are, but at the same time, if they’re going to hang around and have a chance for. That, and to play semi-interesting baseball over the course of the summer, I’d much prefer that than what they were last year, which was completely out of it at this point in time. And all we were talking about was, well, are they going to hire a permanent manager now? Are they going to wait to the off, and they ended up waiting to the off season, right? Which is generally how it works, you know, that they’re typically, and it’s, and that’s the same argument I’m kind of making about the general manager right now. Even if you’re done with Michaelias, that’s not going to sit here and defend them at the same time. I also know how hirings work, and the idea isn’t to hire the first guy, the next guy is going to be hope who you hope is the right guy. When can that happen? It’s generally not June or July when you make those types of hires. So I guess what I’m saying

Nestor Aparicio  40:51

is these new owners got their feet sticky. Let me tell you that right, they got a lot of money out over their skis. There’s no money coming in, a lot of there’s no money about to come in. There’s not a whole lot of money here, as Don Rovak and Katie Griggs are finding out, that people just aren’t handing over $800,000 sponsorships the way they do in New York and in Seattle and these other places, and then they’re going to have a work stop, which at the end of the year, and there’s not going to be any revenue. Masses bleeding, it’s going to continue to bleed, they’re not going to pick up subscriptions, they’re going to lose subs, not pick them up the rest of the year, by the way, I was clicking around the other day on my cable, and the Monumental Sports Network, they just don’t put anything on it, says off the air,

Luke Jones  41:31

I haven’t,

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Nestor Aparicio  41:32

it just says all, like literally, just says off the air, and it’s like when you’re you’re kind of old like me, but not too old, do you remember in the middle of the night there’d be snow, and there would be a test pattern, 3o’clock in the morning, put WBA L on. When I was a boy, there would just be snow, or like a red, white, and blue test pattern, be like you get a sports network on a on a cable outfit, you can’t put the sports junkies on, or tape my show and put it like put something on behind a test pattern. It was crazy. So, when I see Ted Leon, just.. I’ll bring that up with him. But you know, we’re in weird times here. I mean, the Knicks are in the championship, and you know, freakness has gone the other way. I’ve been talking about the business of the business of the business. AI’s coming. It’s just where people are giving their money, and I see this thing evaporate down at the stadium, and that’s not what Araghetti and Rubenstein.. it just.. it feels like the business and the baseball part of this.. it’s just been disastrous over the two years they’ve had the team, and I don’t know, they’re not up late worried about it. It’s not a primary business for them, you know what I mean. It’s a toy, it’s a hobby, it’s not keeping them burning awake at night, drinking, calling Peter Schmuck late night the way Angelos did on the Facts line. These guys are, it’s like, it’s like Steve Pichai said he was checked out from the football team, and then he’s making draft picks. Okay, great, but checked out, checked out these guys that all wanted papal waves and bobble heads and all of that a year or two ago, and run the hot dog race, and we’re going to be heroes and all that. When the team’s in last place, they, they’re mirroring, mirroring the baseball ops guy, they’re like, haven’t seen them at the ballpark this week, all of a sudden, or you know, doing a press conference, or doing a vote of confidence for Michael, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know anything about these two guys owning the team, other than I’m watching it, and the whole thing feels off the skis to me. Empty, you know, even when Kauser hits the walk off it. I wish more people were there to enjoy it and have a good time with it, but it’s not where it is right now. It’s not my job to sell it, it’s my job to evaluate it, and on a day day by day basis they’re not the going concern that it felt like that they were trending to be two years ago and you would say well they’re losing of course and I would say sure but just what they’ve done in off seasons where they’ve been how they market the team the bobble head for the owner just the new ownership coming in and being I don’t know, underwhelming, right? I don’t know anybody that now, two years later, after the honeymoon is over, and it’s not just the record. I don’t know anybody that’s more bought into this than they were two years ago, from a business standpoint, from a personal standpoint, from a fanboy standpoint, from any civic standpoint, any of that, where anybody that I respect, or.. and I just spent a week at a pool with 1200 mostly well-to-do people and business owners here in Vegas, and I talked to lots of them, and they’re all not all, mostly old white guys that like baseball. Was a baseball pool more than it was a football pool. Despite the Ravens being there, it was 95% of my conversation was about the baseball team, and people come up to me and they asked me, what the hell are these people about? And I’m like, I don’t know, they refused to meet me, they don’t even talk to me, so they just have done a really poor job, and I, and the longer this general manager thing goes on, and look, I’m not even playing fight with Luke on the radio for fun, for clicks like you and I gen genuinely disagree that you believe like this is not the time to fire him, we don’t, who are we going to hire, like if you and I are Araghetti and Rubenstein. We play that role. We can have fun with that. I put a hat on. We could do it all. I shave up real nice, and I talk like David. We’d have fun. You and I could do shtick, and we literally could fight about, I want to fire him now, I want to fire him later. Well, if we want to fire him, the book says, the book says fire him the day you want to fire him. That’s what my book would say. Your book would say, ‘Oh my god, who’s gonna run the draft? And, and these are legitimate. Those are legitimate.

Luke Jones  46:08

Look, I said it to you last week. I mean, if I don’t know, two weeks from now, three weeks from now, whatever, before the draft, before the trade deadline, if at some point we’re sending out the WNST text and they’ve made a change of that magnitude. One, it makes me think that they’ve gone even deeper into the depths of last episode, although they’re not in last place at the moment, they’re the fourth. But if this,

Nestor Aparicio  46:34

it will be a white flag. I agree on the short,

Luke Jones  46:36

8

but I guess I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna sit here and say, oh my gosh, I can’t believe they fired Mike Elias. I’m just like, what’s the.. it would feel

Nestor Aparicio  46:46

knee-jerk. It would feel like they don’t have a plan, but it’s just.. and look, they put Buck in, and that’s a joke, or they put Cal Ripken up and front of

Luke Jones  46:54

it. What are you going to do in the meantime? And I, for me, I guess I still want to remain constructive about it. So, how are you doing?

Nestor Aparicio  47:02

I love that you’re being the grown up about it. That’s great, but if I were being the grown up and I were Araghetti, and I’m probably along that, that I would be on the phones, get me five candidates to interview right now to come in here and do a temp job and run this thing for 90 days and dig me out of this and help me hire the new person.

8

Luke Jones  47:20

I guess, for me, I would just.. I would be so skeptical of who are these five candidates that are qualified to run a front office in 2026 Yeah, they’re not working in the

Nestor Aparicio  47:30

old days, but Roland Heamball Joe Klein, of course, Vasey would be in here for a minute. Art Modell would hire some old coach that he knew, for like.. yeah, I, that’s the way it used to work. That’s not good either. I agree. We don’t want Rick Dempsey be in the GM, right?

Nestor Aparicio  47:47

And

Luke Jones  47:47

8

that’s where I just kind of look at this thing, and I’m, that’s where I’m more inclined to just say to continue to evaluate, quite, quite frankly, and in a lot of ways, you know, not just Michaelias, but everything about the organization, right, and, and that even includes Craig Albernaz, right, who I don’t want to judge too harshly two months in, I don’t think anyone really has a legitimate feel for what kind of manager he is just yet, whether he’s going to be good or whether he’s going to be, because the reality is, if you hire a new baseball ops, a new front office. Chances are he’s probably gone, then, right? Chances are they’re they’re wiping the slate clean. And I’ll be flipping now and

Nestor Aparicio  48:30

just say to you, you’re down there every freaking day, and you don’t know what he does. And like, from a manager perspective, to fire the man, like I don’t even know what a modern manager does, or what, where the responsibilities are, or who’s picking, not a lot. We know he’s not picking the ingredients, but he might not even be picking who’s coming out of the bullpen in the seventh inning, even though he’s the manager. And that being said, fire that guy. I don’t know, I don’t even know the value of that position, and be honest with you. Sure, but, but other than rah rah, and feel good, and face the media, and face the fans, and you know, put a good face on things when you

Luke Jones  49:04

can. I, so here’s the, here’s the other hypothetical. Since I use this example, I’ll use it once again, and you know, and I’ll keep this brief. But well, they moved on from Andy McPhail. Buck Showalter stayed in place, which, regardless of some of the dysfunction that did exist between Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter, they did make it work for a number of years before, you know, until it didn’t work anymore, right? And, and obviously, 2017 and 2018 happened. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  49:34

the next general manager might say, I love Albernaz, I would have hired him anyway. Well,

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Luke Jones  49:38

so that’s part of what I’m talking about right now, in terms of I’m of the thought of let’s see what this continues to look like. Can they make some adjustments with certain players, you know, like for example, have the hitting coaches found something with Colton Cowser here over the last couple of weeks, where he’s starting to look better with the bat? Right, what does it look like with Jackson Holiday this year? Can they get Gunner Henderson? And going right, I mean, Gunner has a couple games at a time where you say, “Okay, Gunner, maybe he’s back, and then he’s back to not looking like Gunner Henderson, right? I mean, so you just go down the list, and I, it sounds so blah to just say to let it breathe and let it play out, they have to be better. That’s obvious. Even if they, even if there’s some scenario where they’re the third wild card, is an 84 and 78 team. Does that save Mike Elias’s job? I mean, hypothetically, I suppose it could, but should it? You know what I mean. So, so I’m hearing everything you’re saying. Believe me, this isn’t me hedging on how I was feeling and talking about this organization a week or two ago. I’m just, I guess, for me it’s just a lot of baseball to talk about here. And, as I said at the beginning of our conversation, like, if you want, we could just record this and just play it every single day, and it probably would be appropriate, you know. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  51:03

the next thing will be Shane Baz against his other team. Next thing will be this weekend, where you get more American League East. I mean, the season’s still breathing. They’re playing every day. Some days are playing 13 innings

Luke Jones  51:13

again. They were, they were, what was it, 16 and 34 through their first 50 games last year, I mean, it was over. It was completely over, from a, you know, mathematically they would have needed a miracle to get back in it. At that point, we’re not in that territory right now. It hasn’t been good. I’m not going to sit here and say this has been a good ball club. They haven’t been. They’ve been bad, but 24 and 30 is there is a path, especially in the American League, to getting yourself really in the thick of it, and starts with going 30 and 24 the next 54 like just in a general sense, there’s two ways, and I’m glad, because I started this point, and then I got off on a tangent about something else, you either have a stretch where you go nuts for three weeks, or you need to start grinding out series wins. Right, you can do it when in two out of three, win in two out of three, win in two out of three, but you have to be very consistent in that way. So it’s either that, or you need to have a stretch where you win 13 of 14, which,

Nestor Aparicio  52:21

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but when you’re six under, you go two out of three. Six straight series, you can win six straight back to 500 and you get back to 500

Luke Jones  52:28

What, six straight series only puts you in into

Nestor Aparicio  52:31

early look. Come in by then, end of June. I’ll be, you know, if they’re there, if this team gets back to 500 it will wake me up. It will wake me up. That’s

Luke Jones  52:41

completely fair. Look, I flippantly said this to someone after the game ended on Monday. I said, well, here they go, they’re gonna lose four straight now and crush any optimism that anyone has right now, like that’s

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Nestor Aparicio  52:56

an issue they’ve been, that’s

Luke Jones  52:57

who they’ve been. Yeah, however, they hit a walk off on Sunday, and then they hit a walk off the next day, which, by the way, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this. We’re this deep into the conversation, not that we’ve talked a lot about what’s happened on the field over the last few days, but that Colton Kauser didn’t mention in the same breath as Fred Lynn back in 1985 right? I mean, walk off home runs and back to back, that was back to back games, this was back to back days, because they had the night cap of the double header on Sunday, but that’s look, whether it means anything to the big picture of 2026 or this, this sparks this team, rejuvenates this team, we’ll see, I’m still going to guess no, because, because of all the flaws that they do have, but if you are going to go on a run that gets them back to 500 or somewhere much closer to 500 and makes June more interesting, which they’re there in makes July more interesting. Well, we will look at this, but you’ve got to build on it, right? You can’t, you can’t be happy and say, “Oh, well, we want three out of four, whoop de do. I mean, because it is whoop de do, right? I mean, that’s not nothing special, but if you can win the Tampa series and then take three out of four from Toronto, and then go back out on the road and play well there, well, then we’re talking about a team that’s getting very close back to 500 and if that’s the case the second week of June or mid-June, and they’re hovering a game or two within 500 then that’s a much better place than they were a week ago. So we’ll see, and in the meantime, we’re going to continue to evaluate everything about this organization, right, in terms of Michaelia’s one down, and they’re gonna have to get better in a lot of ways. They’re gonna have to get way better at the major league level, right? They need to play better defense, better at least. Not great, because I don’t think that’s possible. But can it be better? Can they run the bases better? I mean, even Monday, they ran, ran themselves into outs. I mean, it was not good. Base running, even Leonie Tavares tying it up, that was a case where he should have been picked off, right? I mean, and Tampa helped them out a little bit, so they still very much have their flaws, right? I mean, even, even over the weekend, there were, you know, the pessimistic view is they came very close to losing three out of four over these four games, rather than winning three out of four, and that’s that’s fair, but that’s also baseball, right? We can point to a lot of games this year where the Orioles could have won, should have won, and they didn’t, so I’m not going to tear down the fact that they won a couple games where you say maybe didn’t, maybe didn’t have much business winning that game. Well, they won it, so they deserve credit for that. Go win some more now. Build on this. This three out of four is nothing in the big picture, unless it can turn it into seven of 10 or eight of 11. Well, the first place team sit down. This is a week to measure yourself, and you know so far, so good in punching back and forth, especially in the extra innings, when things were kind of weird, I mean, it was weird. Yeah, it was great. It was fun. It was, it was a lot of fun. Let’s

Nestor Aparicio  56:06

make it the highlight of the year, though.

Luke Jones  56:08

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That from your lips to God’s ears, right there. I mean, that’s that’s what this needs to be, right? I use that Arizona comeback the night Albernaz got hit in the face, right? They were nine and seven, they had won three in a row, everyone that night, that night I’m talking about was saying, man, this kind of had some 2022 23 vibes to it, and then they started losing, and they haven’t won three in a row since then, right? So, let’s see, can this, can this spark you to get on a roll, or is it just what it was, which is Colton Kauser doing a Fred Lynn thing, back to back nights, which, by the way, those 1985 Orioles did not make the playoffs or anything like that, although you know they weren’t a terrible team record wise.

Nestor Aparicio  56:50

I remember the Fred Lynn Walker’s because, because you know, I was Fred, was your guy’s

Luke Jones  56:54

guy. Hey, I mean it’s funny, I mean I remember, see, I remember it because that was those highlights were in that, if you remember the old VHS miracles on 33rd Street, which was something I would be embarrassed to admit. How many times I watched as a kid, I mean, that was something I would watch probably once a month.

Nestor Aparicio  57:12

People ask me so much stuff, and I’m like school when it was a kid, he just watched baseball.

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Luke Jones  57:19

I watched VHS tapes like that, I watched the games, obviously, you know, whatever season we were in, and I read the baseball almanac, I mean, and I collected baseball cards, so you know that was a thing, memorizing stats, once upon a time, which now none of us do, because we all have our smartphones, so, but yes, that is how I know what I know, which I need to know more, as we all do, but yeah, Fred Lynn, and you know, Colton Cows are couple fun days, and by the way, something just, if he’s going to write himself and get his career back on track, boy, couple really important days for him, that’s for sure. He is Luke Jones, I

Nestor Aparicio  58:00

am Nestor, we are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. I will end with where I began with a moo, the best team in Major League Baseball’s in town, and the Orioles are playing, and we’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.