Mussina: Pitching in on why the new ABS rules in MLB make sense

Our all-time favorite brother-of-a-Hall-of-Famer Mark Mussina returns to begin another baseball season but this one has been greatly altered – and improved – by “the system” getting the calls right. Moose joins Nestor to discuss umpiring, the strike zone and the new ABS rules in MLB and why it’s quickly become hailed as one of the greatest improvements in the game in a generation.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Look up the exact date of Tommy Conway’s April 24 show at Asbury Park so you can reference it accurately on the program.

Mark Mussina’s Role and Personal Life

• Nestor Aparicio introduces Mark Mussina, highlighting his role as the county commissioner in Mentorsville and his brother’s Hall of Fame career.
• Mark Messina jokes about being the youngest commissioner at 54 and shares about his children, one of whom is a freshman in college.
• Nestor Aparicio mentions their long-standing friendship and how Mark often joins him to discuss football, especially to criticize the Cowboys.
• Mark expresses his enjoyment of discussing baseball on the show, despite his busy schedule.

Discussion on ABS Rules and Strike Zone

• Nestor Aparicio praises the new ABS rules, particularly the pitch clock and the challenge system for the strike zone, calling it a significant improvement for baseball.
• Mark Mussina agrees, noting that traditionalists often fear change but acknowledges the positive impact of the pitch clock and the challenge system.
• They discuss the technology behind the strike zone challenges, with Nestor mentioning that players are measured to determine the strike zone.
• Mark wonders about the accuracy of the technology and the potential for more challenges, suggesting a third challenge might be necessary.

Impact of New Rules on Game Dynamics

• Nestor Aparicio and Mark Messina discuss how the new rules have added a new layer of strategy and tension to the game, similar to American Idol’s entertainment value.
• They talk about the potential for more challenges in later innings and the impact on game dynamics, particularly in close games.
• Nestor expresses concern about the latitude for players to challenge calls, suggesting it could create tension between managers and players.
• Mark highlights the importance of live challenges in baseball, unlike other sports that rely on pre-recorded replays.

Umpires and Their Role in the Game

• Nestor Aparicio shares a personal anecdote about a negative interaction with an umpire during a game, reflecting on the traditional attitude of umpires.
• Mark Messina discusses the potential for umpires to become more media-savvy and accountable, which could improve their relationship with players and fans.
• They talk about the importance of umpires being approachable and willing to admit mistakes, which could enhance the overall experience of the game.
• Mark mentions that umpires have historically been insulated from public scrutiny, but the new rules could change that dynamic.

Orioles’ Offseason Moves and Future Prospects

• Nestor Aparicio and Mark Messina discuss the Baltimore Orioles’ offseason moves, including the signing of pitchers and the acquisition of Pete Alonso.
• Mark praises the Orioles’ willingness to spend money on pitchers, despite the inherent risks involved, and expresses optimism about the team’s future.
• They talk about the importance of Adley Rutschman’s health and potential impact on the team, given his past performance and the aura he brought to the team.
• Nestor expresses confidence in the Orioles’ starting pitching and the team’s overall potential, predicting a successful season.

Local Politics and Community Involvement

• Mark Messina shares his involvement in local politics, including his role as the county commissioner and his work with nonprofit organizations.
• He discusses the importance of local politics in making a difference in the community, particularly in areas like housing and social services.
• Nestor Aparicio praises Mark’s efforts and emphasizes the importance of community involvement and support.
• Mark mentions his ongoing involvement in coaching and his commitment to helping local organizations, despite his busy schedule.

Personal Connections and Future Plans

• Nestor Aparicio and Mark Messina reminisce about their past experiences, including coaching together and attending baseball games.
• Mark shares his plans to attend an Orioles game with his son and expresses his excitement about the upcoming season.
• They discuss the importance of family and personal connections in their lives, despite their busy schedules.
• Nestor and Mark look forward to future interactions, including attending baseball games and discussing sports.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

MLB rules, strike zone, pitch clock, umpire challenges, baseball season, Hall of Fame, County Commissioner, Baltimore Orioles, Adley Rutschman, Pete Alonso, bullpen, starting pitching, player health, local politics, nonprofit organizations.

SPEAKERS

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Nestor Aparicio, Mark Mussina

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive getting after it here in a baseball season in a good way, gives me a chance to catch up with the old friends and just friends that aren’t old. He’s little younger than me, but not too old. I’m his brother’s age. We’re really old. I would have shaved today if I wanted to feel younger. He is the county commissioner up in mentorsville. He will, will always be the brother of the Hall of Famer Mike Messina. He’s been my friend for going on 35 years. We welcome Mark Messina back on. You know, I always hit you in football season to come on to beat up on the Cowboys. And you’re like, I’m County Commissioner baseball season, man, one weekend in I’m like, you want to talk baseball? Moose is like, let’s go. So first things for how you doing everything? Good? How’s the county commission doing? All right? I’m good.

Mark Mussina  00:53

Yeah, I like coming on here because I’m, you know, if you tell me I’m the young guy in the group, there aren’t a lot of places, although I’m the youngest Commissioner too, at 54 but you know how it is, so I have no complaints. You know, I’m an empty Nestor. Now, my youngest kid is a freshman in college, so I’ve got one as a freshman in college, one is a senior in college, and one is out in the real world. So So life got very different this fall, but, you know, still rocking and rolling. So, yeah, I have no complaints. Alright, so

Nestor Aparicio  01:24

I’ve done a lot of conversation already on this. I want to wind you up on the ABS thing. Because if there’s anybody that studies the strike zone and studied your brother’s pitching on his Hall of Fame career, and you were pitcher yourself at one point, although you can’t throw a party anymore, I know that one, and you’ve been you’ve been an umpire, a judge, a coach, all of that this is they’re very few things, and I’ve known you 35 years that I literally could say to you, they made baseball better. I don’t I there’s a handful of things maybe along the way that we could say they really improved baseball, Major League Baseball, they’ve made the game more interesting in every way. Nothing’s made the game more interesting than these first three games that I’ve watched, and part of it was the umpire throwing out the the twins manager for arguing whether he touched his hat quick enough or not. But the fact that there’s debate, and I don’t, I’m not a big conflict guy. You know that if I did, I take phone calls and use Jack wagons all day, they yell at me about Trump. But I think there’s a level of conflict and some tension in regard to this that I thought they were trying to get rid of umpires, get rid of the home plate umpire, like tennis, where it just would be a ball or a strike. I don’t think they can ever do that. Now, I think they have developed something that’s like American Idol. It’s got an entertainment value to it, and a who did you like better aspect about it that I I’m bullish on this, and I don’t think they’re ever getting rid of the umpires. I think they’re going to be a third challenge. Two is not enough. I think they need a third one. But other than that, they did something to improve baseball moose, and I’m happy about that.

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Mark Mussina  03:10

Well, we with every sport you get to the the traditionalists and they all because, you know, in life in general, there are so many people who just fear change. They’re comfortable the way they are, and they don’t want change. And we remember, those of us who are old enough to remember before NFL had instant replay and how it was going to ruin everything, and you couldn’t have the NFL now without instant replay, the pitch clock was going to ruin everything, because baseball was the timeless game and the pace and the step offs and all this stuff, and it was part of it, and and now I think the pitch clock has been wonderful for baseball. And I’m trying to think of, you know, I mean, I don’t think they’ve done anything too radical, as I think of back with the XFL rules, where they had you couldn’t fair catch a punt, and they tried to make this these crazy things, but the pitch clock has been great. The challenging the strike zone has, I think, is, is fascinating. I wonder. I’m still curious as to how they get the technology that knows up and down, and is it? Is it some nerd sitting there who’s who’s eyeing it up as best he can? Or how do they get? Because I heard one of the comments

Nestor Aparicio  04:32

measuring all the players, apparently, right?

Mark Mussina  04:35

Well, one of the guys joked that when guys used to show up at Spring Training, they’re like, how tall are you? What are you weighing? They would just tell them, and they’d write it down, and the guy said, Now the guys have all gotten shorter this year because they’re like, no, no. So I mean that there has to be, I don’t know, but it’s it’s not exact, but it’s not like the umpires were exact, but you do see the egregious misses. You. And and that they fix them. And I I agree with your point of is two enough. I know you don’t want 1000 stoppages, but baseball used to be so much slower. I mean, you remember whenever the Yankees in the orange used to play, it was a three hour and 45 minute game. The pitch clock has sped that up a lot. I wondered if they ever get to the point where you have, like, if it’s a different number, maybe, I don’t know how, because they seem to be able to do it quickly. I wondered if you got one for every spot in the batting order. And you know, if you’re in the three hole, you get one today. You can use it early. You can use it late. If, if your eight hitter comes out of the game and you bring a pinch hitter, the pinch hitter might not have one. I don’t know. I know one of the things that I’ve always wondered, and they have in basketball now, they have, they have these limited challenges, even if you’re always right, and I’ve never understood why? If you get in the NFL, if you get screwed twice, and you’re right, you get a bonus one, what if you get screwed on five straight calls? Why? Why does it stop? So that those are questions to move forward, but they will tweak it because they don’t want it to take too long. But I agree with you. I think that one and the pitch clock have certainly made. Pitch clock, just made the game more consumable. This has been an aspect, because, you know what the NFL the question is, do we now? Do we waste our challenge? Do we risk the challenge because we’re going to burn a time out if we’re wrong? So it brought a whole new level of strategy. And with baseball, it’s the same thing as it’s a, it’s a two Oh pitch in the second inning. Is this where I’m going to use it? Or am I not and and it’s or how

Nestor Aparicio  06:48

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right am I? How sure am I that I’m right? Because I keep thinking to myself, twins, guy blew it. They didn’t have a challenge late in the game that you cannot go into the ninth inning without still not having this to me, to me eighth or ninth in a close game. And not every game is going to be close. I get the seven to two game with differences to make right but in close games, in Division games, in pennant race games later in the year, the the notion that you go to the dugout and you did screw up in the fourth inning or the fifth inning, or you tapped and you lost one for your team. You go to the dugout. Give me the stink eye, and the pitcher that’s coming into the game in the ninth inning, you’re screwing him too. So just how much latitude, how much ego is involved in this for hitters to say, I’m going to challenge it, then it costs you the challenge you go to the dugout. It’s going to create tension between managers and players too, to say you’re not allowed to challenge dude in the same way you’re not allowed to steal a base or take a base or, you know, you don’t have that latitude to challenge don’t challenge it because your eyes not good enough. And it’s no

Mark Mussina  08:01

I agree, and it’s neat that baseball has not allowed because all the other sports wait for replay. And sometimes when you’re watching the NFL at home, and we see that, you kind of blame the television broadcast because they didn’t find a good enough replay angle before the team, because guys don’t just throw it. You see in college basketball all the time they go to the manager now behind who’s got the iPad behind? They don’t just do it live very much. So the fact that baseball’s forced it live, you’re right. It’s not just about how good am I doing it. It’s the ego. And you just took mine away from me. I wonder, because it’s so new and because it’s going to be tweaked. You know, the NFL you can’t challenge unless you have a timeout until we get under two minutes. And I wonder if baseball does something along the lines of, you get two challenges for the first seven innings, but then in the eighth inning, the ninth inning, the 10th inning, you get a challenge every inning going forward, so you can’t get to the ninth inning without a challenge. I wonder if they do something like that.

Nestor Aparicio  09:06

Yeah, that just isn’t a good you know, that’s not good. It’s not good for for us, for the people consuming the game, that in the ninth inning, one team can’t challenge something when because they screwed up once earlier in the game, or whatever, like, but man, it it got me texting you on Sunday night and Alan’s coming on all of my baseball nerds, because I’m like, is this as wild to you as it is to me? And I can’t imagine your brother. What does your brother think of it? You know, I haven’t asked.

Mark Mussina  09:39

I haven’t seen him since the season started. I was going to see him today at a baseball game, but the field is too wet, so they had to move the game somewhere else. So I’m not going to see him, but I don’t know it is the difference that the intrigue that baseball is going to bring in. Is it’s not the coach who’s looking at a TV screen, who’s deciding it has to be the players. And again, like you, you know that, and that’s one of the neat things, and we see in college basketball, it’s

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Nestor Aparicio  10:10

one thing, but it is a team decision to challenge it, though, correct?

Mark Mussina  10:15

But that’s that’s one of the neat things about basketball, is like, am I shooting or are you shooting? It’s the coach. Doesn’t decide the coach, we can drop our offense and we can do whatever we want, but you’ve got guys on the floor, and in this case, in March Madness, you got kids on the floor. They’re like, I can shoot it if I want, or I can give it to you. And now we get the selfish, unselfish and who’s too unselfish, and who has I mean, I I think you’re going to see guys. It’ll be fascinating. The stat at the All Star break who leads the league in challenges and what really good players have never challenged at all that haven’t because they’re like, I’m not taking it away from somebody else. I’ll fight through it. It’s going to be fascinating. Mark machine

Nestor Aparicio  10:59

is my guest. He has been around here for 30 years. One point was eating frozen pizza in my in my living room at three in the morning, watching baseball tonight with Carl Ravitch, you know, and I don’t ever poke you about your brother, or what your brother think of this, or whatever, how it would be in that day, but I’m going to ask you about this, because I don’t really know the answer to this. And all the years I covered baseball, I had to think about this in the last 24 hours, and I’ve told the story once or twice already this week on the show. I only remember ever in my life having one conversation with an umpire. I had it on an airport shuttle in Cleveland right after the Alomar spitting incident with Hersh back. I don’t remember the umpire’s name. Your brother would remember it. It was, might have been the day Alomar hit the home run in Cleveland. I’m pretty because it was in I remember it being in Cleveland. I was on an airport shuttle. I was leaving an oral Indian games. I think it was the 96 you know, you and I were probably roommates at the time. And all I remember about him was he was like, the worst gym teacher. He was, like, stereotypical macho, douchey. You know, my where the highway Frank Kush School of umpiring? And I thought, well, all these guys dealing with blue panel and Earl Weaver, that’s the way it was. I’m old. Now you’re old. Now the umpire’s a little younger. Some of them are a little older. The Angel Hernandez thing that happened in recent times about just being bad at it. Cora saying, got one job, balls and strikes. You get nine wrong in a game. That’s that’s not good. We’re going to start judging the umpires. Do you know umpires? Did your brother really ever know an umpire talk to them well or anything? I’m fascinated, because I know that they thought they were just trying to take umpiring away. And that sounds good. I would have said a week ago, moose, I would have said they’re trying to get rid of the umpires. Now that I see the friction this creates and the drama and the how they’ve done it, I think they’ve done a brilliant job with it. They need to get more. That’s my only complaint. But I think to myself, the ego part of the rabbit ear umpire that your brother dealt with in his era, to ever even talk to these guys or have any relationship with them that this, this is going to change umpiring as well. And certainly, as Cora pointed out in Boston the other day, you know, the guys who who do this poorly, it’s going to get out and instantly, right?

Mark Mussina  13:21

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Yeah, no, I agree. Because these are the stats that on by. Because you can do well, they they had this many right out of 100 pitches. Or, well, there’s two teams out of 230 pitches today. They got six wrong and all that stuff, and that’s whatever. But when you see, like the guys who have been overturned, you know, nine times, or you’ll these will be the biggest umpiring stats that we’ve seen. And at any level, I think that, Well, you’re right that the Major League Baseball umpires have been insulated to the point that you know on the field, they are the Gestapo, and they never have to answer to anyone. They never go in front of a microphone. The only one I ever really remember going in front of a microphone is, what’s his name, when he when he blew the call at first base for the perfect game for the Galarraga kid from right? It was at Jim Joyce. I want to

Nestor Aparicio  14:13

say it was, yeah, who?

Mark Mussina  14:15

And I think when you go through and you know, you talk to players, how are the umpires? Oh, they all sing. But then, but then, when you actually talk to and they’ll be like, well, the these guys are good and these guys are, you know, aren’t as good. Well, your

Nestor Aparicio  14:24

brother always knew who the umpire was, and always knew what the strike zone, high, low and out like, there was a, there was a it was a study amongst pitchers in Major League Baseball this week.

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Mark Mussina  14:34

Wasn’t accidental, but you you talk to any coach at any level. It doesn’t have to be major league or the NFL. You know, you talk about low college, you talk about high school, you talk they want the the umpires and the officials who will talk to you and will explain, and who don’t have that arrogance of every call I made was right, because you’ll see, you’ll have, you know, I had basketball officials who come to me like, yeah, I might have missed that. Or I got screened and I didn’t really see it, or, you know, and, and you understand that it’s hard to get mad at someone, you know, when I’ve umpired the plate in and I’ve done, I’ve never done anything above, like Little League and senior Little League, but I’ve gone to coaches all the time and like, is that low? Is that too high? Am I too high? And it’s hard to get mad at someone who understands that, like they’re just trying to do job. They’re trying to do the best they can. But you know, anywhere in life, when you get that ego driven person who’s like, I’m right and because I’m the law and and they never have to sit in front of a microphone and answer. I was interested to see today. I Googled this earlier. I wanted to see if there was a comment from the NCAA officials last night, who didn’t call the charge on Cameron Boozer, if you watched the game, that he just ran over, and everyone and their mom knew it was a charge. Patino was online talking about it. The in game commentators, you know, everyone he just ran over the kid, and there was no whistle. And I understand officiating is really hard, and at the Youth levels, we’re getting less and less of them, but I don’t think it helps them that they never sit there in front of the microphone. And have you know, John Shire has to sit there in front of the microphone and answer the questions. And why don’t the officials have to sit there in front of the microphone and say, Yeah, we blew it. I don’t like and just give your explanation for what happened, because now we’re just like, oh, the officials suck, and when you don’t have the human element of it. So that’s I to get I just rambled all the way around your point, but the it will help Major League Baseball umpires, the ones who are more media savvy, who can come up and explain themselves and just be like, yeah, I, I had trouble picking up the ball today. You know, hitters do. So why umpires? I? I just didn’t. But there’s no

Nestor Aparicio  16:56

relationship between umpires and even your brother pitching 20 years in the big leagues. They really don’t know each other at all, right? They literally, it is, I don’t know, like you mentioned policemen or Gestapo or whatever, like, I just can’t imagine they’ve there been a lot of discussions between pitchers and we, even your brother, would say the Maddox had a preferred strike zone, right? He got he got calls. No other people got that’s all over with. All of that’s over with now, well, I think

Mark Mussina  17:25

I wonder too if certain guys like because the first baseman, the umpires rotate by first base and the catchers clearly have relationships. They would be interesting to talk to. I’m sure the pitchers know which umpires are pitchers, umpires and hitters. Know which umpires and hitters umpires, or at least historically, had been, but it would be interesting to talk to the catchers, because they would have relationships with all these guys. And which ones you can talk to, which ones will be like, Yeah, I missed that one. And because when you’re umpiring behind a plate, even at a guy who’s just done a billion Little League games, like right after the call, there are times you’re like, Yeah, and you hear, you know, some hooting, and you see some kids react, and you’re like, Yeah, I think they’re right. And I was wrong on that one. And I don’t it, just it has always helped me to tell I like, I’ll tell kids in the middle of a bat, like, Yeah, I’m sorry that might have been outside. And I don’t think that makes it worse. I think it makes you more human, and it keeps the game going. I don’t know, but it will this whole it is fascinating.

Nestor Aparicio  18:30

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I mean, I’ve never reached to so many baseball people in one night excited to want to talk about a pretty esoteric part of the game, but also a part that I’m like, my wife and I were said, she don’t even feel well, we’re sitting there watching Sunday. She’s like, this is more interesting. And I’m like, Yeah, it really, really is. And I, I’ve been doing this 35 years, and I it’s kind of revolutionary. And I’m thinking my all of my thought was they were trying to get rid of the umpires. No, no, no, no, no. This is going to keep their jobs forever, because I it has made it. It’d be like having American Idol without judges. Like, who would, you know, like, literally, yeah,

Mark Mussina  19:09

and just, I mean, as you’re talking about, imagine you’re, you’re sitting in the stadium or at, you know, a bar or whatever, watching with your buddies. And it’s, it’s a one, one pitch in the mid or, you know, maybe not one one count. It’s a two one count in the middle of the fourth inning, and it’s probably outside, and it got called a strike, and, you know, the guys chat, and now you got your friends debating, is this a big enough situation to get us to a hitters count with a three one count in the fourth inning, or should we save it? Because we don’t want to burn it. It’s only, you

Nestor Aparicio  19:40

know, well, every player in history ever had to eat it. Whatever it was is what it was. It’s not anymore. And that now, that unto itself, is just crazy. I mean,

Mark Mussina  19:50

we’ve had the baseball people who are like, you know, do you hit and run here? Do you blunt here? But so much of that has left the game because it’s such a power. Game, and now we’ve got this other, you know, a two, one pitch in the fourth inning, and we’re arguing amongst our friends, we should have challenged that. No, we shouldn’t have. It’s to it, and it’s, it does it brings such a layer of it, and then you can be the rest of the game. We, I told you, we shouldn’t have challenged that. We shouldn’t have wasted our challenge on that. And it’s, it’s this aspect, and I think it’d be great and, and I remember, because, again, you and I were old enough to remember the old time people that thought instant replay was going to ruin the NFL because it was going to drag it out too long. And instant replay has been wonderful for the NFL, and this is going to be wonderful for baseball, too, for all the reasons that we’ve discussed.

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Nestor Aparicio  20:39

Yeah, your brother never loved the DH because he wanted to hit. But, like, the DH was when I was a kid, that was the thing, right? Like, should we dump the DH? We took the National League 35 years, right? So baseball still has us arguing. Mark Messina is here. He is, of course, of a baseball family, but coaching basketball amongst other things, and running around and seeing Tom Kiefer and Cinderella anytime, and Tommy comma on the young Rumblers as well. Um, what are you when are they

Mark Mussina  21:05

playing? I know we talked about that. When is it

Nestor Aparicio  21:06

April or man, who’s that? Tommy Conway, it’s playing at Asbury Park show. Man, I gotta he’s playing a stone pony in when? And I think it’s April 24 or something like that. I think I’m gonna look it up. Now. You got me going on this, but I want to get you going. Orioles, where are you on that I’ve already brought your brother’s name up. I had Mike Vaquero on, who wrote this book, bosses of the Bronx. And I told him your hot tub story about your brother, that when Angelos had a hot tub broken, he’d want to sue somebody, when George would just fix it. And the notion that the Orioles couldn’t afford your brother and pissed your brother off, which was disgraceful, still disgraceful to this day. Every Oriole fan should agree with that. Anybody was here would know it, but Angeles did so many more awful things than even just letting your brother walk out the door through all these years, there was no investment most of the time I sat here on March, 30 or April, 10 or any time of the year and said, they suck. They’re going to suck. They’re always going to suck. They’re going to cry poor. They’re going to pocket their money. They’re going to lean on that television deal where they sucked all the money at I mean, just it’s an awful, lurid history of the Angelos thing here. And two years gone, the new owner doesn’t know anything about baseball, nothing like it’s very clear how little he knows about baseball, but he likes his ego, and he likes his bobblehead. He likes sitting on the dates at these press conferences, the check the bars. I thought the basset thing was crazy, and I haven’t had you on the show since then. But like the notion that the Baltimore Orioles would be a late signer for a really good pitcher, Guy pitching the World Series, giving him 18 and a half million dollars in February to come in and be the four starter, and I think he might even be better than that. We’re seeing things here, civically And fundamentally, and even though I’m banned and they treat me like the same piece of garbage that Angela treat me worse than Angela’s, because I don’t deserve it, but they’re, they’re making it interesting here, Pete Alonso, but the Shane boss thing, it’s like I was gonna say they’re spending money like a drunken sailor, not really just feels that way when you’re an Oriole fan, because they never did anything here. They’re trying here moose, and for that, they don’t have to get my price pass back. I can see the strike zone better on the on the box, especially, I’m going to come down there to treat me like shit, because I don’t want that. But they’re, they’re making a real concerted effort here, in a way that even during the buck era, this feels different here. And I don’t know if it feels different to you up on the farm in PA, but it feels different. It feels like the Orioles are going to be trying from now moving forward. And I agree.

Mark Mussina  23:45

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I agree. And you know, spending money on pitchers is always scary, because pitchers just get hurt differently than position players, except for Chris Davis. But, and I think you know it, I don’t say in defense of the the Angelos era, you know, they spent a lot of money on Davis. And people that remember the end of what he was forget the beginning of what he was, and his numbers were out of this world. And, you know, and it’s also easy to spend somebody else’s money, as we sit here, and we’re like, I don’t care. I went to college with a guy who’s a die hard Mets fan, and he was talking about some play I’ll never forget this. And I was like, Dude, that that’s a lot of money. And he goes, it ain’t my money. What do I care? Look what the Yankees are spending. I was like, yeah, it’s a good point. So it’s easy for us to criticize, but yeah, I think both the pitchers signings that you just mentioned are worth the risk, because they’re all a risk. And you know, even you see what the Yankees did when they went out and signed Garrett Cole and then he’s out for a year, and they paid him $30 million last year. He’s he’s really good when he’s healthy. And no one saw this coming. But you know, he hasn’t brought him a word. World Series, and they got to the World Series, but it’s just, there’s no guarantees. So you’ve got to take these educated guesses. And, and I know the kid didn’t have a great start his first start of the season, but you know, long term, we’ll see. And, and I, I like both the moves in general. And again, it’s easy, yeah, come June, you can turn around and say, Oh, if one of them’s on the shelf or one of them just greatly underperforms, but you know, you you got to take these shots and and I tip my half for him for taking the shot. My curiosity with this team this year is Adley rushman. That is because I just have to but I know people talked about that he was banged up. I got to believe he was banged up, and if he’s finally healthy again, and I say, Fine, it’s not like he’s that old. We remember kind of the aura that came with him when he showed up and and the team started winning. And it wasn’t all because of him, but it certainly helped. And we, everybody knows baseball, knows how important it is to have good catching and a catcher who can actually swing the bat as well, and to see his his the last couple years for him, nobody saw coming. Chris Davis, see weird, right, right? And I got to believe the kid was hurt, and I just hope that he can be healthy again and just and he’s not going to hit 330 and, you know, maybe he’s not. He’s, you know, he’s never going to be, you know, Johnny Bench or whatever. But that to see this kid come back and hit 275 and hit 20 plus home runs and drive would be very feasible, I think, if he’s healthy, and that I just hope that he is, and I have no I’ve never talked to the kids, so it’s not like I know what his injury history was, but the stories were that he was beat up, and I have to believe that he was beat up more than he was

Nestor Aparicio  26:59

letting on. Well, holiday two and Westberg two and Henderson last year was never right like you know from so getting all of these guys right, but then coming at it with the five pitchers and sending Kramer to Norfolk, I know the bullpen suspect until it’s not, it might be awful. Who knows? I know their defense is going to be adequate at best. On its best day, it’s only going to be okay. So I know that, and I know they’re going to strike out a lot. I know they’re going to be more station to station, but that’s the game. I would say that the starting pitching and giving Pete Alonso all that money, and Taylor Ward kind of filling that Santander role that Tyler O’Neill didn’t fit last year, but he’s back and he’s healthy. They got a lot of bats, and they have really good starting pitching. And for that, I we’re into a season where they have a chance, and we haven’t had a lot of that, and I think they have a good chance. I pick them to win 92 games, moose. I think I’m bullish on the or else this year. I think we’re gonna be good.

Mark Mussina  27:58

When you said, you know their bullpen suspect, I would bet, and I haven’t gone other than the teams with the huge market, you know, the Yankees, the Mets, the Dodgers. Well, the Indians had a good

Nestor Aparicio  28:08

bullpen until everybody went to jail. So, yeah, right.

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Mark Mussina  28:11

Like, how many teams don’t have a suspect bullpen in March? So, and the difference in Major League Baseball, it’s, it’s a good reminder of college basketball, and you see all these teams now that in the Final Four, it’s the the margin of error that the the the Orioles of the world, the mariners of the worlds, these teams can’t, they can’t absorb a lot of injuries, where the Yankees John Carlo can miss half the season again, because he always does. And if he’s there in October, then he’s there in October, if the Orioles and all these other teams have a job, if gun or misses half the season, the Orioles have no shot in October. So that those are the differences, their margin of error. But we saw with Toronto last year. We saw with with Seattle, these teams that have had, you know, made it exciting. You know, when you look around, Houston isn’t what they used to be. Detroit’s trying to get there, and I know Verlander is, I think Verlander is pitching today. But other than, you look at like, you know, dodgers, Yankees, the mats are supposed to be, but the Mets are still the Mets until they get there. It’s, it’s more wide open, and now with the expanded playoffs, it’s even more wide open. So yeah, I I really liked the Orioles offseason, and I think too going forward, it shows guys like gunner or any young guy coming up, or any veteran guy coming in that they’re going to try, because nobody wants to be the one guy that they keep. You know that, like Jose Ramirez is in Cleveland right now, and he’s got really nobody around him. You know, nobody wants to be that guy they want, like, yes, sign me, I’ll stay if you’re going to spend money on other guys. Yeah, and at least try, because the guys know that they they can’t go out and spend $300 million on a starting pitcher, but to bring in the kid from Toronto for, you know, $18 million well, that they can, they can absorb that.

Nestor Aparicio  30:11

So everybody sees that that’s a real commitment inside the locker room. I see that as a media member to fan Absolutely.

Mark Mussina  30:17

So it gives hope to, you know, because they’re like, Well, why won’t a guy stay? And we talk, we transfer, Portal, all this stuff. Well, what do they think? What do they think is going to be here next year, and and if bass, it goes, and then, well, they’re going to bring in somebody else. And that would be the feeling in the locker room all year, this year, in the clubhouse that that next year, we’re look, they signed, they signed Alonso. They signed this guy to a multi year deal. They signed this guy to a one year deal. But these aren’t just, you know, we remember the rentals that they picked up and like the that they hope they catch lightning in a bottle. Like these guys have real potential, and not just a lot, but the other guys that they’re not just throwing crazy money. I thought they were all reasonable, educated guesses, and that’s all they all are. You know, it’s, it’s players health is a risk, and God bless them for taking it. Look, everybody wanted Corbin

Nestor Aparicio  31:10

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burns here last year, and it would have sounded good and would have looked good, but it wouldn’t

31:15

have been good. No, it would not have been.

Nestor Aparicio  31:16

It would have been devastating, really, for them.

Mark Mussina  31:19

And, yeah, I think it’s fun. I think the team you’re right, defensively, they’re not great, but offensively, I think they’re going to score. And I when you look at Alonzo with, like, kind of with the Mets, and for some reason I don’t know he, I think the world just thinks he’s this lumberjack who, sooner or later, the league’s going to figure him out, and he’s not gonna be able to hit anymore. And it just never He just keeps hitting. And I don’t know, I think the Orioles were kind of lucky to get him. I would be shocked now, Oriole fans again, that are old like us, remember Glenn Davis and when he showed up, and then it just, it never translated ball. I would be shocked if Alonso is not good in Baltimore, I would be shocked.

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Nestor Aparicio  32:02

Mark Messina is here. He is good as the county commissioner up in Pennsylvania. He’s up in toursville with his brother. He’s still coaching ball. Admire him both when you were doing it together. I’m not,

Mark Mussina  32:13

no, I’m not. He is, but he he coaches a lot and plays golf

Nestor Aparicio  32:17

a lot, and he’s got more money and time than you. Yes, he

Mark Mussina  32:21

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is certainly and he’s a way better golfer, I’ll tell you that, but he’s on the range six days a week, like, I hope he’s good. So he’s falling

Nestor Aparicio  32:29

in love with golf. That’s been his thing.

Mark Mussina  32:31

Yeah, yeah. He my youngest nephew is a super golfer, and so him, and that’s his youngest boy, yeah, yeah, his youngest son, and so they play all the time. I mean, my nephew plays all the time. Mike plays, but, yeah, works into his schedule. It’s a he gets to play a lot of golf. We just don’t have enough nice weather yet. But he’s keep he’s coaching three sports still, and he keeps saying he’s going to cut one down, but he hasn’t yet. But, you know his, his world is, is changing too. You know he’s been an empty Nestor longer than me, but you know he when I became an empty nester, I started to go to work every day. And you know he’s he’s adjusting to it. So he fills his time with coaching and

Nestor Aparicio  33:18

golf. And you’re done with coaching, you’re done.

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Mark Mussina  33:21

Yeah, yeah. I know. I have a buddy. I have a couple buddies that always said when we got older and our kids were older, we were going to go coach a little league team and have no kids involved, and have no daddy ball involved, and we were just going to teach them how to play. I don’t know if that’s ever going to come to pass, but, you know, I still throw batting practices to some kids sometimes, and, you know, help things out. But I’m still a good bullpen catcher. But now the the everyday stuff, I actually, as corny as it sounds, politically, there’s some, some things on the local level, with, you know, with nonprofit organizations and with housing, we were just at a Habitat for Humanity, just did a ribbon cutting. And so there’s, there’s things like that that I feel like, that’s

Nestor Aparicio  34:03

not corny in my world, I do that all day. That’s the important stuff, dude. Yeah.

Mark Mussina  34:06

I mean, I’m lucky enough to be in a position where I really think we can do a little help. And, you know, you know, you get the national politics and you see all this statewide stuff that you really don’t have as much influence, but on a local level, we can really make a difference in and help

Nestor Aparicio  34:22

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people. Help people right? Help people.

Mark Mussina  34:25

That’s and I’m fortunate that I can be in a position. We just had one the other day with the YWCA and and and their battered women’s shelter and and how we can which, which funds, because all the government funds are earmarked for something, so which funds and, but there’s a grayness to all these earmarks that you can use it for this. And you well, can we use this money to help this? And no one’s debating the causes with, you know, American rescue workers and and things like that. So we’re just trying to funnels not the right word, because funnel has a negative connotation. We’re just, we’re. Trying to match the needs and and it’s, it’s, it’s challenging, but it’s, it’s rewarding when we can do it. So I, I, I’d rather do that going

Nestor Aparicio  35:10

forward than Coach. Good work. County Commissioner Mark Messina, dude, you’re almost all grown up. Don’t tell anybody. I’ll see you to Tommy Conwell show or a Tom Keith show, or maybe, you know, now that I like baseball game, maybe we’ll go to a ball game together. Yeah, meet you in Philly halfway, or something like that. You know,

Mark Mussina  35:26

what’s funny is, my son and I go to Baltimore every year. Now he’s in school in Pittsburgh,

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Nestor Aparicio  35:31

so when he suddenly come to Baltimore, they don’t call me. I just want to point that out, but

Mark Mussina  35:35

go ahead. But whatever. Well, lots of times we make the decision the morning of it, like, hey, what do you work today? What are you doing? So the Orioles, the pirates, home opener, is next weekend against the Orioles. So he is definitely, he’s not going to opening day, because opening day, as you know, is a little pricey, but Saturday and Sunday, we’re looking at going, it’s the weather’s, it looks a little damp, but it’s going to be warmer. We’re looking at he’s, he might go to both, and I’m going to try to go to one, but we always get to Camden Yards. But yeah, I will, I will absolutely be down

Nestor Aparicio  36:06

because see the birds with yens in that at the confluence. What? Yeah, we had a bad weekend in Pittsburgh playing baseball back in 79 but that was

Mark Mussina  36:18

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before your time. I remember. It’s a rumor, but I do remember it.

Nestor Aparicio  36:23

But yeah, Sister Sledge and we are family. All right, moose, I love you, man. I’m glad you’re doing good things up there. Keep up the great work. We’ll get together soon. All right, absolutely, man, I’ll see you. I’ll beat you up on the Cowboys after draft day. He is marked here, buddy, this is our year again. Jerry’s in the way. Next year, Jerry’s in the way. Jack Prescott’s not though I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.