On a night with a great start from Dean Kremer and a clean sheet from the Orioles’ bullpen, Luke Jones and Nestor the discuss a sign of pitching prosperity and an awakening from the bat of Jackson Holliday in grand slam win over the Cleveland Guardians. Beware: fashion statements within…
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent win, highlighting Dean Kremer’s strong performance and the team’s early offensive lead. They praised Kremer’s five-and-a-third inning outing, noting his 3.85 ERA over the last three years. The conversation also covered the bullpen’s effectiveness, particularly Gregory Soto and Brian Baker. They emphasized the need for better starting pitching and consistent offense. Additionally, they touched on the Orioles’ lack of direct-to-consumer streaming options, criticizing the team’s slow adoption of modern streaming technologies.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones, Speaker 1
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 tasks in Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. I would tell you we’re going to be at Beaumont on the afternoon with some great, great guests. You’ll be hearing all of that stuff in the same way that Peter Ranson joined us last week over Costas. We’re at the Beaumont on Thursday, and then next week, make some plans. Join us at Cooper’s north. I know the Orioles are playing in the middle of the week as well. So they always have the game on there. They have great gumbo Coopers north on Wednesday. All brought to you by the Maryland lottery. I will have the back to the futures in my pause by the time I get to Beaumont. And then on the 30th, we’re going to be Cocos pub in lauraville, oh, in the seventh of May at red brick station. Man, I was there when they opened red brick station, 28 years ago, wherever it was. So Bill blockers been making this beer all this time, and I’m going to go over drink some of just like I did at the beer and bots with Ed Mullen and the good folks from Baltimore robotics. Um, Luke, I got it. I got to tell you, I know I ran into all of some of my goons. Dave the wave, McAllister, former radio one, marketing man, and my 1991 got in my car, drove to Daytona Beach and did Spring Break together. I had Joe Enoch out the other day, all of that, and they were asking me about Mr. Rubenstein, and they were asking about Katie Griggs. So I have a letter coming to Katie Griggs about why we were unrepresented on Jackie Robinson night in the press box because you had the night off. And David Rubenstein has a bobble head on Saturday night, which, I mean, that’s its own punch line, but it is what it is, this robotics thing on Wednesday night. Luke Ed Mullen grabbed me and he said, I think you need a, you need a, a bobble head of your own. And I’m like, What are you talking about? He said, go over. Like, go over here. So I had the robotics people spin me. I want to give them the proper direct dimensions. Uh, Mike, who’s big Lister, and also a friend of Leonard Raskin, he’s making a bobble head of me. So I’m getting my own bobblehead, Luke. So there I’ve arrived. I’m almost a billionaire, a multi billionaire. Hey, the Orioles won. How was it? Was fun, huh? Oh,
8
Luke Jones 02:03
congratulations on that. First of all, but it’s amazing what happens when you get off to an early lead to help out a starting pitcher who has not been very good this year. And that said, starting pitcher, then pitches, well, the game seems easy, then it’s so much easier, then So good night.
Nestor Aparicio 02:23
Great baseball observation, though, the game is easier when you get good starting pitching, and we don’t see it for three weeks, just seeing it once, it’s like, oh, because everybody’s despair you’re gonna do over at the bar, but you’re gonna do this. What they had to score runs. You have to score like, you you know, I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna ease off on the gas on this, you know, I’m not gonna ease off the accelerator on this. Well, that 10 minute slam cost John Martin five grand. I’m gonna tell you right now. So and more of them is what I’m saying, you know.
Luke Jones 02:53
But my, but my point with that is, and I said this about Charlie Morton the previous night, that was a one nothing ball game going into the fifth inning. And look, Charlie Morton Melton melted down. I understand that, but his offense did nothing whatsoever to help him at all. And they weren’t facing, you know, they weren’t facing Garrett crochet or Derek school or someone like that. They have to score runs. This team was built to score runs, and their offense has been mediocre at best. So it was great to see them jump out to a four, nothing lead in the second inning, and it was great to see Dean Kramer pitch accordingly. For the most part. He did give up a solo home run in the top of the third. So there was, for a moment, a that’s that’s not really what you’re looking for when you were just staked to a four, nothing lead. But he pitched well. Now it wasn’t dominant. Didn’t miss a whole a whole lot of bats. I mean, this Cleveland offense is kind of like Kansas City in the way of high contact. They’re going to foul off a lot of pitches. They’re going to make you work. They’re going to frustrate you. You know, it’s not as though they have amazing hitters one through nine. I mean, of course, Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan are great players. But beyond that, you look at the rest of those players you’re talking about, you know, someone like a Carlos Santana who’s well past his prime, or guys that you’re not as familiar with, but they have an approach that works for them. They
Nestor Aparicio 04:11
8could have won the World Series last year. They were good enough at the end. They were in one of those teams, and
Luke Jones 04:16
as I, as I said to you, last year, they had a bad starting rotation. It was really their bullpen being, well, dude, much like the the Orioles, right? Yeah, but, but it was bad. I mean, it was just bad, but their bullpen was historically great, and their offense, while it certainly wasn’t a jug or not, like I said, they have an approach that works for them or works well enough for them, but give Dean Kramer credit, that was much more of a dean Kramer start that I’m not saying you get every time out over the last three years, but we certainly recognized he’s been a much better pitcher than what he had been over his first few starts of 2025
Nestor Aparicio 04:54
so that he can make a whole lot of money pitching the way he pitched on Wednesday night against the playoff team. I
Luke Jones 04:58
mean, I I. Know, there’s been a sentiment about around Dean Kramer over the last couple years of wanting to see better, wanting to see him take the next step. But I think over the last three years, he’s proven it’s a league average starter, which, by the way, that’s still valuable. I’m not saying that you can win on that, and you did on Wednesday night, right? Yeah, that’s not necessarily the guy that you say, oh, we’ll win with with that in October. No, but that’s that’s a guy that will help you navigate 162 and be successful. So you’re hoping there’s more of that to come from Dean Kramer. And I get it. It’s five and a third innings. I’m not going to sit here doing cartwheels, but relative to what it’s been, dude,
8Nestor Aparicio 05:37
another beat on Dean Kramer. He’s, thank God for him, because he’s still here doing it, showing up, being a part of it, you know, part of the old trade, and, like, all that stuff, and the old guard even. But like, you know, to rely on him every fifth day to give you that kind of outing. I always say I don’t trust Dean Kramer, because, like, this is the guiding light with every picture that ever didn’t make it, or even some that did, Sidney ponson, people that made a lot of money. It was efforts like this that you say he can be that good on any given night, on, on, you know, if he stays in the strike zone, if he gets some run support, if his head’s on right after the first walk, or the first ball, one that should have been a strike, if they were had computers, like just all of that part of managing his countenance as well as just his stuff’s not electrifying, right? But it’s big league stuff to your point and and unlike some of the other horses, he’s out there taking the ball every fifth day, doing the stuff that the whole injured list isn’t doing right now, sure.
Luke Jones 06:39
And I mean, that’s why I said, over the last three years, going into 2025 last three seasons, he’s average right around 26 starts a year. I mean, he he’s kind of been that guy that’s good for one il stint over the course of the season. But he’s still making 26 starts. He’s still giving you somewhere in the neighborhood of 140 150 innings. And he’s had a 385, era over the last three years. I mean, again, that’s not ace material. It’s not number two starter material, but it’s back half of the rotation material that they’re, I mean, they’re desperate just to get that much right now. So when we got an
Nestor Aparicio 07:14
era under seven, yeah, exactly. Well, that dude, when it’s that early on, it’s a step. You’re, like, you want to see him in the threes, dude. If he gets to the threes, he’s he’s throwing the baseball. He’s gonna have, you know, three out of the next five starts are gonna look like that, and no more blow ups and hanging in. And then in the end of May, we’ll look up, he’ll be an above 500 pitcher. He’ll be a four two era guy, and we’ll say he straightened out and run for now. He’s their ace. He’s their ace right now.
Luke Jones 07:46
8On Wednesday night, they don’t have an ace. I’m not
Nestor Aparicio 07:50
he was, he was sorry, he was a jack or a king. They don’t have an ace right now. I don’t want to call him a queen, because that guy’s getting drafted next year, Zach,
Luke Jones 07:59
their ace is on the IL Zach Eflin, who who played catch, and it looks like it’s starting to, you know, looks like he’s feeling good, so hopefully he’s back open a couple weeks, you know, three weeks, something like that. But it was good enough. And like I said, in concert with, Hey, your offense scored some runs early on, and they gave your starting pitcher a little bit of a cushion, right? I mean, you give them a four run lead in the second inning, they have to do that and up. Doesn’t mean you’re gonna score nine every night. Let’s be clear. I’m not being unrealistic here.
Nestor Aparicio 08:34
Also the bullpen. You know, it’s a different game when the bullpen comes in five, nothing, and gives you a clean sheet.
8Luke Jones 08:41
Yeah. Well, they’re bullpen. Other than Sunday, their bullpen has been good, and at times, really good.
Nestor Aparicio 08:46
And I’m starting to buy in a little bit. I mean, I see the names in the Major League pedigree and the cold weather and like all of that, and easing Batista into this and waiting on kit ridge. I mean, dude, I’ll hear all of that. I think the bullpen has potentially better than this,
Luke Jones 09:00
than the starting staff, easily right this minute? Yes, for sure. Yeah, easily, Ed. But the key to that is you need to get more starts like they got on Wednesday night from Kramer, which not going to sit here and say five and a third is a deep start, a deep outing. It’s not but it’s better than four innings and suddenly you’re asking your bullpen to cover 15 outs. You know, you’re if you ask those guys to cover 12 plus outs every single night, then it catches up to you, and it catches up to you quickly. So that’s why can you at least get into the sixth inning? I mean, even five or 10 years ago, we talked about, oh, you need your starters to get into the seventh in and get into the seventh inning. Well, doesn’t happen a whole lot, even around the rest of baseball. I mean, strategically speaking, teams are inclined to go to their bullpen, because you have guys throwing 98 right, and teams have multiple guys that are throwing that hard. But can you at least get into the sixth inning a little more consistently with this group that you have right now, even if you’re giving up three or four. In the process. And that’s why I keep saying you need your offense to score, and you need your offense to be the strength that everyone has lauded it to be, that they’ve built it to be. So when you get that, as they did on Wednesday night and again, it’s not going to be a Grand Slam every night. And what’s funny about it is they had the four nothing lead, but go, Look. I mean, it’s not as though they had a lot of traffic on the bases against Gavin Williams. I mean, that was kind of the inning, right? I mean, it was a couple walks, and before you know it, you know, Jackson holiday hits, the Grand Slam, but
Nestor Aparicio 10:33
8William kids had a chance to get back in it before the floodgates broken. They did. And
Luke Jones 10:37
that’s where it was not nice. And you said it. I mean credit to the bullpen. And you know, they got some big outs. You know, there was a big catch by Heston kerstad along the way that that, you know, again, allowed the pitching to to look as good as it did. But you need that. And somebody put a couple guys on. So, you know, sticky, he got the strike out the previous inning, and then he put a couple guys on. So it was good to see canoe do what he did, because we know, if there’s been one knock on canoe the last you know, going back to last year, it’s been not being very good when you inherit runners. And as a reliever, especially a high leverage reliever, you’ve got to be able to strand some inherited runners. It doesn’t mean you’re going to do it every single time. And of course, if you come in with the bases loaded, nobody out. Yeah, I don’t expect you to be a miracle worker, but you come in with a couple guys on and nobody out, or couple guys on and one out. If you’re going to be that if, if you’re going to be deemed a really good reliever, you’ve got to strand those guys, you know. And you got to strand those guys at least with a relatively high percentage, you know, relatively high frequency. So he was able to do that, you know. And they got the
Nestor Aparicio 11:42
two thirds of the way there. Soto got, you know, they almost had the bag, bags loaded, I mean. And there was it. The game was a little in the paradise that moment, and, and they need that on a night by night basis, which, by the way, Luke Jones is here. You’ll be at the ballpark this weekend. The reds are in town, which always makes me think of Sparky Anderson and Pete Rose and the Big Red Machine and all that stuff. The notion that the bullpen gets out of this Batista there. I mean, they said all along they were going to slow play this. I think Elias said that Brandon Hyde said that he’s only appeared a handful of times. They haven’t been in those kind of games. They haven’t been in a three, 2/9, inning game four, three. They haven’t hit enough to have a lead. They haven’t pitch well enough to be even if it’s six to five or seven to six, but six to four, whatever it is, that moment where he comes out of the bullpen and becomes that thing that they were building him to be two years ago and Dimming the lights and playing that stupid wire stuff that they probably shouldn’t it’s probably not a real good image thing if they they’re all about their image. But I, I would say the Batista thing that’s to come. I mean, if they’re going to be a contending team, he’s going to be their closer, and they’re going to have those nights, and to your point, Yeti or Cano finding himself in that position, and then not only slamming the door and doing the work and making soda look good, but then the offense coming back out and sort of unraveling the Guardians at the end of the game and putting their foot down. That felt, you know, that was sad, satisfying was the word I was guys, the word I told you I start taking notes. Satisfying victory. That’s why I said to you, you had a good time, didn’t you?
Luke Jones 13:21
Yeah, yeah. I mean, again, it’s not just that they won, but they won in a way that to your point, it was dicey in that top of the eighth inning, but then you put some separation between you and the opposition in the bottom of the eighth. I mean, Batista was warming up, he was going to go in, even with it being what, I guess it was five to one at that point in time, because Lorena would hit the home run, which hilarious. I mean, little inside baseball here, I had literally just said, not the previous pitch. I think it was two pitches before I had leaned over to someone else sitting nearby and said, Man, Laureano has been so bad. I mean, this has been really bad. Hits a home run, of course. I mean, it always figures, just like when you compliment a pitcher, that he’s been so good he gives up a home run or something like that. But was good to see them add on the runs. One thing you mentioned, and I will, I do want to acknowledge this, as I was just giving some props to the bullpen, but I am still reluctant to, you know, deem it a really good bullpen because of what you just said. They haven’t had a ton of high leverage situations where you’re protecting a one run, two run, three run lead. They did on Sunday, and they failed, right? I mean, the one thing I’d say about, you know, not just Sunday’s game, where they lost to Toronto, but also what we saw Wednesday night, they need one of their lefties to be a high leverage guy, and it had looked like Gregory Soto the last couple times. Not so much. But there’s no confidence level in CNL Perez right now, obviously, because of Danny coulombs not coming home. Danny coulombs not coming through the through that door, and Keegan Aiken, he’s been a little shaky his last couple times out. And I don’t. Trust him. Aiken was good last year, but I think you have to understand where he was. He was pitching much more middle relief and a lot of lower leverage, nine, one game, right? But, but it comes down to it they’re going to need one of those lefties to pitch, because you’re going to face lineups that have lefties in them that you you need, you need them to get out. It feels to me
8Nestor Aparicio 15:21
like Aiken’s the first guy they pull out fifth, sixth inning. And I mean that unto itself, is usually the game’s usually close at that point. It means the starters kind of failed. And to your point, always your point. I’m going to make you the king of offense around here. Hey, are we hitting the ball, or are we not? We have five runs. We have two runs in the fifth inning, you know, where? Yeah,
Luke Jones 15:41
where are we? And again, it’s not saying, Oh, you must score 10 runs every night. And to be very clear, to be perfectly clear here, because I’m not giving the pitching a pass, as I said to you, you know, I used the comparison the other day. Right now, the starting pitching is the D student that’s getting F’s, and the offense is the honor student who has a c minus average. And you’re kind of saying, What the heck’s going on you were an
Nestor Aparicio 16:04
elementary school teacher. So maybe this is the difference in the expectations of a 12 year old, an eight year old, you know, we we expect the offense to do this, and we’re okay with the pitching just doing that, you know what I mean, like?
Luke Jones 16:15
8And we just, and we just didn’t, we didn’t have very high expectations for the rotation to begin with, and then you lose Zach Eflin on top of having already lost Grayson Rodriguez in the spring, that’s where I look at this and say, what are we really expecting from them? Yes, better from Dean Kramer. And yes, I’m not, I’m not saying Charlie Morton. Oh, it’s fine. You’re you’re totally fine. No. But at the same time, if your biggest strength isn’t going to be a strength at all for you, then everything else. It doesn’t even matter. Yeah, you’re going to lose and you’re not going to be successful, even if their offense does what they’re supposed to do on a much more consistent basis. We’re still going to be asking whether it’s enough when you have the worst starter era in the majors. So it was great to see Dean Kramer do what He did on Wednesday. He needs, we need to see much more of that, not just from him, but these other guys. And again, it wasn’t dominance, it was five and a third innings. You know, the bar is very low right now as it pertains to their starting pitching. So can they get more starts where you say, Hey, you have a chance. And you know, we’re going to see Sagano tonight. And I think you know, even with him, what he did on Saturday, it wasn’t a great outing against Toronto whatsoever, but he didn’t get bombed to the point where they didn’t have a chance to win the game come the sixth inning. So you know, you’re looking for more of that. You just can’t have these outings where you’re giving up six, you know, five or six runs, and you’re out of it in the fifth inning. But because your offense isn’t, you know, scoring at a high level. So you know what? We’ll see how it works out on that front. But, you know, with the bullpen, I think there’s still a question as far as how the hierarchy shakes out. I mean, obviously, you know, if Batista is available, he’s getting the ball in the ninth inning, but we also know back to back, you know, he’s not doing back to back. So we saw that play out Toronto, Saturday and Sunday. Cano is clearly the guy that you’re looking at to kind of be Batista. I suppose on the night that Batista is not available, but I think what we saw from Brian Baker. I mean, ending in a third scoreless innings. You know, ending in a third scoreless from him. Uh, confidence, clearly, right? I mean, really, Let’s call a spade a spade. And I’ve been critical of Brian Baker, and it’s not like anyone has been unfair. You know that they’ve tried to, they’ve tried, they’ve stuck with him, and they’ve tried to make him a thing in their bullpen for the better part of three years. Now, he was really good. It the first four months of 2022 and then wasn’t as good 2023 it was a struggle, you know, and the 22
Nestor Aparicio 18:57
team wasn’t very good well. So Right? Second half. They were they were crazy. They were bad in the first
Luke Jones 19:02
half, but they were good in the second half, right? I mean, that was when they had the winning streak in July and all of that, but, but the point is, they’ve clearly been a believer in the stuff, and now I think you’ve seen him develop a much better change up. He has better movement on his fastball again. He’s got to continue it, right? I mean, we know relief pitchers are. You know, for every great one that you can count on, year after year, you’ll have guys that are good for a month or two and then they’re bad, and that guys that are good for half a season, and then they’re bad, or they’re bad for half a season, and really good. So he’s got to be consistent, but he’s been their best reliever. I mean, he’s, he’s really been the guy that it hasn’t been in the traditional sense where you say, Oh, well, you know, your ninth inning guys, your best relievers, your clothes. Or no, he’s come in and pitched in some, some pretty big spots where, you know, he comes in and there’s guys on base and he slams the door, or he comes in and retires the side in the sixth inning and then comes back out and pitches, you know, in. The seventh inning for you. So he’s
Nestor Aparicio 20:01
the one that they’re going to trust in that first high leverage situation where they need him based on game situation, based on the score.
8Luke Jones 20:07
Yeah, he’s kind of been in that spot that, if you recall, Jacob Webb was doing a lot of that for them last year, where he come in in the sixth inning, some guys on base, and they’d ask him, Hey, can you get us? Can you get us through the seventh inning? And he’d give them an inning and a third or an inning in two thirds. And wasn’t always high, extreme high leverage, but generally, you were having him pitch in close games in those I would call it a grown up role. Yeah, it, you know, it’s not the, I don’t want to say it’s the traditional fireman role where,
Nestor Aparicio 20:33
dude, it’s not what cheek and Aiken did coming into an eight to one game to mop up. I mean, exactly, you know, there, there are degrees in this bullpen. And to your point, we’re two and a half weeks in trying to say who’s got what role, even though it’s like, you know, the in the NBA basketball is one, there’s a two, there’s a three, there’s a four. Starting rotation is one to two, three. They made a closer. We got a set up guy. We gotta get a long relief, short relief. They all have titles, but then they’re become situational, like, which guy Am I pointing at? And he is first up, you know, like, at this point because of that, and the more he builds this, he’s first up in whatever that situation is. We’re going through the middle of the order to get out right, and you need that, but at least we’re starting to identify because you would have told me he was going to be their first, their first guy. I if you told me that a month ago, I’d have been like, what I mean, in the same way you and I are discussing it right now. Well,
Luke Jones 21:25
but I’m, I’m right there with you. I mean, I was the one saying that you can’t have Brian Baker in your in your bullpen if you’re a serious contender. And hey,
Nestor Aparicio 21:32
8did you say that? Sure they call me the one that’s not nice. Well, I
Luke Jones 21:38
mean, think about it, Brian Baker, go back to the second half of 2023 He’s barely pitched in the majors. I mean, and when he has, it hasn’t been very good. So
Nestor Aparicio 21:49
lockers after games where things haven’t gone his way, they take an L, right, like, literally, I’ve watched that.
Luke Jones 21:53
But part of that, like I said, is this is someone who’s had a growth mindset and has worked on his stuff. He he’s developed a better change up. He’s, he’s shown better movement on his fastball, and he’s, you know, he misses some bats, but he’s also just, you know, he’s getting outs for you. So it’s
8Nestor Aparicio 22:09
not accidental either. And I that’s a tribute to the organization, the people that want to fire Elias and all these guys because the pitcher’s arms all fell off. I they, they’ve gotten guys. They got the most out of Bradish. They’ve gotten, you know, success career. Yeah, they’ve had success stories. And I don’t even know where their failures are, other than injuries, right? I mean, you know, Suarez kind of worked out, okay, you know? I mean, even povidge right now is hanging around a little bit like it gives you a night where it feels good. They got Dean Kramer good enough that we’re praising him this morning, right? So I do, and they’ve made changes there. But to your point, fundamentally. And I spent almost an hour with our friend Rob Nyer this week talking baseball in the history of baseball, one of my favorites, just about the pitching epidemic in the arm injuries and all that that has not escaped this franchise, but now they have to pick up the remnants of it and work with the guys they have. And can they make pitchers better? They can? I mean, I, you know? I mean, I’m, I’m a believer in that, in the same way that we talk about Eric da Costa picking football players next week. I’m pretty convinced that they’re good at doing that. You know what? I mean, like, they’re bad at a lot of things, integrity. We can go through Justin so we go through the list of all that. They lie, just all of it. But are they good at this? You know, you give them a hard time for not drafting pitchers. Every smart baseball person I talked to, including you, has read the 21 blackjack book and knows that arms blow out and bats don’t. And if you’re taking the risk, bet on the bats. But then you have to figure the pitching out, which we talk about here all the time, and then can you make pitches better or get the most that maximize them? Is what I would say. Yeah. I would say this group until their arms fall off, you know what? I mean? Like, I literally, until their arms fall off, they’ve they’ve gotten good productivity out of they, you know? They’ve made star names and made us think about John means and and Bradish and these guys that all weren’t Steven Strasberg, right,
Luke Jones 24:05
right? I think where the criticism would lie would be that they haven’t drafted and developed there. It’s generally been someone that there’s some kind of baseline that they like, you know, like, for example, I mean, Bradish was clearly someone they identified when they traded Bundy, and they said, Hey, in the angel system, we like that Bradish kid. I mean, he, he’s, he’s got something to work with there, and they work with it. But the thing you would say, it’s not as though they haven’t drafted any pictures, they just haven’t drafted pictures early. And if you really, you know, again, if you’re really looking at this thing holistically and trying to look at the big picture as far as where they need to be. If you have any conviction in what you’re doing, you’d like to think, Okay, well, maybe you didn’t draft a picture to the fifth or sixth or seventh round that you’d like to think somewhere along the way that you’ve developed a picture or two. Well. That’s
Nestor Aparicio 25:00
where, like the Norby Stowers trade, we’re looking at it holding their nose right now, but if that kid’s in the rotation in August, it looks like Dean Kramer, yeah, you know, I’m healthy,
Luke Jones 25:09
8yeah. And he can, can he get healthy enough to pitch it triple A for a while? I mean, yeah. I mean Trevor Rogers, I’m not going to sit here and say I did cartwheels about that deal when they acquired him, but there is clearly something they saw and identified, and they saw the picture he had been with the Marlins, what three years earlier, where people were kind of talking about him in terms of the Rookie of the Year conversation, all star, all that, and it just disappear. His stuff dissipated. So there was, there are questions about him being healthy. And keep in mind, he’s, this was a knee thing that he had before spring training. It wasn’t an arm issue, you know, popped, you know, it was his kneecap. You know that he popped. But, you know, I think you’re looking to see them do more on that front, you know, when it comes to pitching. Because, as I said, if you’re not going to spend $200 million on a starting pitcher other you know, you did attempt to do it with burns, you know, I think was a legit offer. But generally, we clearly haven’t seen them in that space. And if you’re not drafting pitchers early, and you’re not making a big emphasis in the draft in pitchers, then you’ve got to make that up somewhere along the way. It can’t solely be one year contracts for guys in their 30s and all that and and then what, especially when you have the injury start to pile up, then you say, Oh my gosh. I mean, now it’s, you know, it’s crazy. What, what they’re trying to navigate at this point. That’s why, even with their offense doing what I think it’s capable of doing more consistently, there’s still questions about how good it can be right now, at least, you know, over the next six weeks, let’s say until, you know, we’re talking about Elaine being back, which I don’t think Evelyn’s going to be out six weeks, but until he’s back, until we’re talking more about having a timetable with grace and Rodriguez, I mean, Gibson will, you know, is expected to be part of this thing by the end of the month, you know? So once you have a couple more options like that, then you start to say, all right, it can be a little bit better. It can be a little more functional. It can be, how about, how about, shoot for mediocrity at that point in time, right? I mean, it’s worse than mediocre right now. So baby steps, and really, that’s where, why right now, you do ask, you know, can you do much more than tread water right now? That’s why you when you have an opportunity, like they do tonight, to win a series, you know, to win two in a row for the first time. Do that. You know, do that doesn’t mean you’re gonna suddenly reel off nine of your next 10, but you’ve got to take advantage. And if you can just try to compartmentalize, win two out of three split a four game series. You know, not, not be in a position where you’re having these prolonged losing streaks or anything like that. Then, then you can hang around and, you know, you might be closer to 500 than the kind of space you want to be. That suggest you’re going to be a serious contender. But then you’re hoping, as the year goes on, you’re going to get more of these guys back. And we know Kyle Bradish, for example, is now throwing bullpens. You know, he’s they, there’s a very practical chance. And I don’t say it’s a guarantee, because it’s coming back from Tommy John, but he’s in play to be there in the second half at some point in time. And you know, doesn’t mean that it’s going to work, but he also could give you a lift down the stretch. So,
Nestor Aparicio 28:24
and by the way, that’s the first time, I think we’ve talked about that, right? The first time we’ve said maybe he’ll pitch this year. I mean, I’ve said it’s, you know, it’s me when you he’s been really out of sight, out of mind. But now that we’re into into the fray, we’re like, All right, we get going. Well
Luke Jones 28:37
again, you don’t know how someone’s gonna You don’t know how someone’s gonna react once they start throwing bullpens and start throwing all their pitches, and then they graduate to Sim games and live BP, and then what happens once they go out on a minor league rehab assignment and they’re back in a live game competitive environment, you know, we saw, then there’s that seven letter word setback, sure. I mean, there can it’s not linear, dude. It never is right. But there are also guys who come back in 13 months or 14 months, and they’re, I’m not saying they’re 100% completely themselves instantly, but they’re, they’re good
Nestor Aparicio 29:16
on the cusp of that right now, Batista,
8Luke Jones 29:18
I would say, with Batista, the difference there is, he’s had a much longer recovery time. Now they’re being careful. That’s fine. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. I’m not criticizing them for that. My The point I’m making, though, with Bradish, because this wasn’t Bradish having it and then sitting out all of last season, and then he’s back, you know, for part of this season. Keep in mind, he had it in mid June. You know, it was mid to late June when he had that. So he’s not even at 12 months yet. So believe me, I am not sitting here saying he’s going to be their starter the first game coming out of the all star break. I don’t think it’s going to be that fast. But could he be there in August? Could he be there in August? And maybe he’s part of your. Station the last six weeks of the season. If you’re able to hang around and be in
Nestor Aparicio 30:06
think to me, tell me he’s going to have eight starts right now and they’re going to be okay. Dean Kramer, kind of starts. I’ll take them, especially the Dean Kramer we saw on Wednesday. Are we done with this? Because we got the Indians for one more we’re going to talk Chicano, because I have a really important, uh, Oreo related topic we need to discuss here.
Luke Jones 30:23
Yeah, yeah. I mean, just hey Jackson holiday. Good to see him breaking over 17 with a Grand Slam. I mean, they I, as I mentioned, you know, as I told him myself for being critical of Laureano in the in the press box, you know, and run two pitches later. And oh, Hearn, you know, we got a hold of one. So good to see them do that. As I said, Heston kerstet, great catch in the right center field gap. I mean, we we’ve talked about his defense. It’s not his biggest strength. That was a plus play, and it was on a night where they also, they kicked around a couple balls too, but he made a fantastic play in that spot. I mean, that was a huge play.
Nestor Aparicio 30:58
8Martinez was trying to go all John Lowenstein late in the game, down seven rows, yeah, run into the wall.
Luke Jones 31:03
That was crazy. That was I’ve seen. I mean, that wasn’t the worst one I’ve seen, but he hit the wall pretty hard, especially on a cold night. That’s not going to feel good. I mean, it definitely not going to feel good, but was good to see them pull away late. It’s good to see them win a game comfortably. And it’s not going to be nine to one every night, but I’ve been hard on this offense. I absolutely have been, but again, it’s because the expectations are for the the offense to be what leads the way, and it hasn’t been leading the way it did on Wednesday night, and Dean Kramer responded accordingly, then by giving a much more representative outing than what we’d seen from him over his first three
Nestor Aparicio 31:41
All right, even though I was in the great state, Keystone State of Pennsylvania, Luke’s homeland over the weekend, and I was spotted in downtown York, Pennsylvania, and then in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. You know, I get out on the internet from time to time, and I read Luke’s mom’s tweets. So if I were to do a segment here on Luke’s mom’s tweets. But they, you know, you put a picture up the other night, and we’re a week back on this right, where they were wearing the orange on orange on orange, the pajamas, the Pat Dobson pajamas, yeah, and the Blue Jays were wearing that. And the Blue Jays, by the way, everybody in their lineup looks like Devin white to me when they’re wearing that. And I’m, you know, I’m very happy with the early Blue Jays baby blues, so I’m good with that. The orange Oriole thing. We’ve seen that picture way our Dobson, McNally Palmer, I’ve even seen some infield shots of what Brooks looked like that night, looking like a pumpkin. Nobody ever. They never warm again. They have no, you know, they have this sort of weird sentimental quality in the same way that I think of Justin Tucker always in those mustard pants that you hated so much that I thought the mustard pants and the purple look really good. So I goes to show you what I know Look they looked like the 1958 Baltimore ravens to me. And, you know, so they it has a real throwback. Plus it’s gold, you know, gold, Jerry gold. So this orange thing, Luke’s mom did not approve of them, and I promised of your mom that I would opine on this, or at least bring it up as a topic, given that you’re the king of fashion tweets here, especially now the Connolly’s retired, right? Well,
Luke Jones 33:28
I did. I guess that’s my stick. I don’t know. I
8Nestor Aparicio 33:31
steal the national anthem stick. You know that’s, yeah, yeah, yeah. But
Luke Jones 33:35
I’ll say this, I’m not a big fan overall. First of all, I love the orange jersey, yeah, just the orange jersey with the white pants, or the orange jersey with the gray pants. On the road. I’m a big fan of that look. I don’t I. I’m not a big fan of any baseball pants that aren’t white or gray, or I’ll allow the powder blue because of, you know, nostalgia, you know, seeing the KC Royals or seeing the Phillies in their powder blue, or a beautiful powder right? I’m fine. I’m fine with that, but, but, but that being said, I think if you’re going to have a look along those lines, I think I do like the all orange better than the all black. City connects. You know, if you recall, last year, they kind of phased out the black pants with the city connectors. They’ve done so many things, right? Like, if you take every military teams do this jerseys and pink jerseys and and whatever that, other than the Yankees, the Yankees are the one holdover, right? I mean, but, but even like the Red Sox, the Red Sox had the Boston Marathon, city connects, oh, my God, they were horrible. Some people liked but a lot of people did not. And now that now we’re getting to the point where we’re at teams introducing their city connect part two, by the way, go look at this of all the city connects. I think the White Sox actually had one of the better ones. It was all black, but it had white pin stripes. And I thought it you. Know, you know, kind of had the, what the south side or whatever, um, you’re
Nestor Aparicio 35:04
going to make me pull up all that was such a thing. No, wait, just wait with me. Go ahead. I want to say
Luke Jones 35:11
8they had one of the better ones, if you’re going to do it. It was, I thought it was a sleek looking city Connect for what those are. And again, not liking different colored pants or whatever. But they said
Nestor Aparicio 35:23
aside on it, right? Yeah, they look like they look like a softball outfit, dude, yeah? I mean honestly, no,
Luke Jones 35:29
but, but I was just saying of all the city connects, that was one where I said, All right, at least that feels white, SOX like it feels like something that you know enhances their image. In Colorado, Rockies
Nestor Aparicio 35:42
look like their license plates. I mean, I’m just looking at these that said
8Luke Jones 35:45
the White Sox I saw. They’re they’re getting ready to unveil a new one, because these city connects are apparently a three year deal with Nike, and then they want to roll out a different one. The newest one I saw is kind of a it’s a mash up with the Chicago Bulls. I kid you not. It looks like, I remember back in the 90s, everyone wanted a Michael Jordan bulls jersey. I mean that for, like, my generation, like kids, you know, back in the 90s, and I remember you could go somewhere like Ollie’s or, you know, some kind of a bargain shopping place, and you would get, like, basically, what would be a non licensed bulls looking jersey that would say Chicago, but, you know, it, it looked really kind of cheesy. Well, the White Sox, the rumored leak for their new city connects, is along those lines. So I don’t know. I mean, it can’t
Nestor Aparicio 36:38
be worse than the tea toss hat from the Rangers back in Oh, you know, yeah. By the way, the Seattle Mariners, their throwbacks look like Bruce Bucha. So I can check off on that St Louis has that the loo with the
Luke Jones 36:50
birds. The hat stinks, though. I don’t mind the jersey, but the hat is lazy like that. Go look at the hat with that Braves
Nestor Aparicio 36:56
8are wearing like a Ralph gar thing, which is cool, you know, like San Diego, they look like they’re Manny Machado and his pajamas. Pirates,
Luke Jones 37:05
the pirates kind of leaned into looking like the 70s pirates. That that’s one of the which I hated. I’m just saying as looks go for each, each individual team. Yeah, some
Nestor Aparicio 37:16
of these things are ridiculous. The twins have so many beautiful throwbacks and the killer brew Oliva era and stuff like that. And I’m a jersey guy. You know what I’m going to do because of your mom, and this would be great to invite your mom one day, maybe we could have Todd write them. Come down from Philly, my buddy, who’s the jersey guy, and we’ve struck up a crazy friendship, and he comes down to games and stuff. He lives in Philly. He’s written books on jerseys. Look him up, R, A, D, O, M, he’s been a guest on the show many, many times, and he discusses this at a very high level. He’s an artist. He’s, he’s done a handful of, like, super bowl, oh, he’s done all sorts of stuff in in sports. He’s, he’s a real dude. And he’s a friend of a SIG so like, and Dick Girardi, I can put this whole thing together where we can get him down to fade these one day and we can have a summit. Is that a good word? I was going to call it a forum, a conference. I mean, what it’s really going to be is beer and crab cakes at failed. That’s what it’s going to turn out to be. But I’m figuring, like, Well, like I got Chad weaseling coming out this week, and he’s my agent buddy, and you’ve never sat with him pike and met him and fell in love with him five years ago, because you fall in love with NFL agents who are from Baltimore, went to Maryland, or from Hagerstown, who love heavy metal rock and but more than that, like he’s Josh Jacobs agent. He’s going out to Green Bay next week, and he sit with me for an hour at the Beaumont dude. That’s where like you and I, you know, eat right? I mean, when we start to talk to really smart people about smart things. So as much as you love fashion tweets and enter all that. I gotta get you in with Todd. And I know your mom’s, you know, fashion conscious up there in southern PA. So I want to make sure that, you know, we take care of her, her needs here as a listener too, because nobody listened to that of my mother’s dead, your mother’s alive. So we have thanks mom for listening. If Some, somebody’s mother’s listening to the show, at least.
Luke Jones 38:58
Yeah, there we go. But yeah, I am very much a traditionalist when it comes to uniforms like that on opening day. You know, we’d never mentioned it at the time, but, like, the Orioles wore their black jerseys on the opener against Toronto, I didn’t like that. You know, home whites and road grays on opening day. Like, you know, I’m much more of that thought you can have an alternate topper. You know? What’s weird
8Nestor Aparicio 39:24
is, who makes the decision? Is that Greg bay or is that? In fairness, I
Luke Jones 39:29
think the Orioles have kind of gone at least. If you notice, when effluent pitches, they are almost always in their black jerseys. I think that’s a Scott Erickson thing. Yeah, right. Getting Ben McDonald liked it early on. Like, I think 93 was when they introduced the black jersey. That was a Ben McDonald thing, and then Scott Erickson a couple years after that. So I think that’s what it is. But I, you
Nestor Aparicio 39:50
know, I would do that was the Atlanta Falcons going to black, and everybody was wearing black 99 but the Orioles are lacking their color schemes they’re allowed to wear. Like, yeah, I’m the. But, yeah, listen, I’m the only between jerseys I hate, hideous ones that get off brand. And that’s getting off brand, you know, I have to say this, I would, I would very much like the black jersey. But for one factor, they wear the terrible O’s cap. Hate that tap. I agree with that. Hate that, you know what I hate, and they’re the cartoon really, the city
Luke Jones 40:23
8Connect. Cap is way better than that O’s cap. And I don’t like the rest of the city connect, but at least the script B looks way better than the O’s. That is just a, let’s face it, as a rip off of the Oakland A’s
Nestor Aparicio 40:35
cap. Well, and the O’s part of this. And can I really go off, you know, get out on the lawn. No, the
Luke Jones 40:42
Baltimore. I mean, we know, I understand this is not a good looking cap.
Nestor Aparicio 40:47
No, no, I, I don’t think I’ve ever said this out loud. I say this to my wife all the time, and I’m never at the ballpark with you, because you have a press pass, and I don’t, I don’t go very often, but if I was at the ballpark, sitting in the press box with you, and I hear that cheer that they started in this ballpark when the team really stunk back in the odds, let’s go owes. Let’s go owes like I we never did that at Memorial Stadium, you know, I like the charge. I like the Memorial Stadium sounds. I like, you know, like Oriole magic. I like all of that. This was a new fangled, modern thing that clearly was baked up by in the Greg Bader era. And it never, it was, it’s not organic. It did not come from fans, this splash zone thing, like, I have no I don’t know what the hell it is or why I’d want to sit out there getting wet on a 50 degree that’s not for you, though it’s not for me. I hear you and all of that, but we’re if we’re talking about things that come to the ballpark, that don’t feel organic to me, while Bill was organic, things that are the pie thing, even with Adam Jones, until they made him stop because they were trying to get money out of Rodney. So, like, there have been organic and I was not a pie guy at all. You know that, like, it’s just not, was not my shtick in that era at all. And the peanut shooting in the dugout, when everybody’s when you know they’re they’re interviewing, interviewing players in the game. Rob long in the dugout. I never in a million years, if you would have told me, Rob long would be in the dugout talking to every player that comes over on Sunday afternoons to see what they think. How did that feel? I don’t I like they do stuff that on a daily basis, but the jerseys to me and the orange thing that they’re trying. And the orange thing, like, I didn’t love it, hate it. It is part of their history. So for that, I like that more than the city connects, as you pointed out, and I like that more than the San Diego Padres wearing pajamas or like those Boston things that they wore. I mean, if you’re gonna bastardize your jersey, and you have a perfectly beautiful jersey. You have a perfectly beautiful Michael Phelps was wearing the ornithologically correct hat, and he’s so young that he’s so funny. That’s the throwback. Now, that’s which is really funny throwback, which is it totally is. And I remember being at the crown gasoline station in 1988 and 89 when Craig Worthington wore that hat for the very first time, and like it, it was 19, the 1954 SK baseball cards, like it looked like, Oh my god. It was a 58 hours. My dad’s like, they stunk when they wore those hats. You know, it’s so one of those. And the cartoon panel is so me. But when I see gunner Henderson in it. It doesn’t look right to me. It doesn’t feel like the right, you know. And at some point, because Michael Phelps likes the ornithologically correct bird, and that’s what Cal was wearing in that early 90s period when he was at this, yeah, cover off the ball. They’ll go back to that hat too. And on nights when they wear that hat, I’ll think they look good. But A’s. And, you know, adopting that, I never, nobody ever called in the A’s. And I worked at three newspapers. I’ve been in the stands. I’ve been in Dundalk. I’ve been on busses. People call the Orioles, the birds, whatever. But I don’t know many people after 1968 and you know, I spent a lot of time in Highland town who calling them A’s and A’s and like, yeah, no, although, as a as a result, drive to me, I hear you. It’s like a hair. It’s like, it’s like, I would also say, I
8Luke Jones 44:33
think across the board, in pro sports, in 2025 there’s a lot of contrived stuff, and that’s just kind of where it is. They’re trying to brand, they’re trying to
Nestor Aparicio 44:40
brand job. The whole social media channel is again, thrive so reality, but I would, but I would
Luke Jones 44:44
say because of what you just and I don’t disagree with you, you know, if we’re talking 25 years ago, but because of even some of those things, albeit contrived, you probably do hear more younger people calling younger people calling them. The O’s that wouldn’t have otherwise. But it’s funny. You mentioned this. I have to say this. And again, I’ve given, I’ve given you a full blown you know that I was out there quite a bit when in 2019 for example, when they’re losing 115 games where, I kid you not, one of my internal jokes in my mind, when you would hear the let’s go O’s chant, and the Orioles were down seven to one in the seventh inning. You know what I would change it to in my mind, let’s go home. Let’s go. Oh, so there you go. You mentioned that. So every time I hear that chat, I think of the darkest days, dude.
Nestor Aparicio 45:35
8Can you imagine if they credentialed me during those eras and I sat next to you and at any point on a summer night just to come down and hang out and annoy the hell out of you, as I be known to do, and that, I wouldn’t be yelling that out loud for my life, you know, a pro, but,
Luke Jones 45:53
yeah, that was definitely something that became a little bit of a joke in my mind. Or, you know, if I was between the
Nestor Aparicio 46:00
Orioles ice come and taps you on the shoulder and takes your press pass, they’re going to remember that you said that. The the, let’s go out loud. I’m just saying it was something, well, you just did, and now we did it on and Chris Yuman to hear it. And
Luke Jones 46:13
you know, that was the the 2018 19 Orioles, which, oh my goodness, you talk about some bad teams. I mean, they’re struggling right now out of the gate, and it’s frustrating. And I get it because they expectations are way higher. But, man, as long as we’re not heading back to that, I can, I’ll survive. I can survive, even if, even if this year ends up not being what anyone people like the
8Nestor Aparicio 46:38
city connect jerseys, and I’m good with that. And no, I didn’t even go, I didn’t even come off the top rope with Jackie Robinson, other than with Bernard McKinney this week. And and by the way, I hate the 40 twos. I like, I love Jackie Robinson, but I don’t like being not able to identify the players who and that’s where I am with that. Well, there’s three things, because I’ll add the fact that there’s, there are no black players or people in the game anymore, and they’ve done a horrible job. And it’s patronizing to even do it at this point. If you want to do something, go fight the President about taking Jackie Robinson the president. I can’t even, it’s inconceivable that
Luke Jones 47:13
it’s all patronizing. I think, I think a lot of people in baseball absolutely want to celebrate Jackie Robinson. So, you know, I’ll disagree with.
Nestor Aparicio 47:20
And then for that, they have guys in the outfield that you know on Pride Day tweet out that they don’t want to be a part of it that you know. So first amendment for that, right? So with Jackie Robinson, no, but I’m saying all of these players on the political end. Take
Luke Jones 47:38
8now African American i I agree with you. And look, these are, these are issues that go well beyond Major League Baseball, that, of course, one thing baseball is not, except as accessible of a sport. It’s expensive for plenty for plenty of low income white families as well. Let’s point out, because I even know a few, uh, hearing how much it costs for their kid to play baseball, and trying to figure out the money to do that. So that is absolutely an issue. But let’s, let’s, let’s not ignore the huge population of Hispanic players. And you know, it’s not all white, right? Let’s let, what’s, at least acknowledge that part of
Nestor Aparicio 48:16
I know Hispanic guy is not allowed the press box tonight. So, you know, I like, I don’t I know that Roberto Clemente number was taken off the wall in Pittsburgh until people got Pittsburgh disaster. Yeah, he missed about a lot of things. Baltimore has been a disaster for 30 years. Like it has been, they really want to
Luke Jones 48:33
know how much worse it can be. The Pittsburgh Pirates and I heard this from a Pittsburgh outlet earlier this year. So I I assume it’s correct. You want to know what? They’re still the largest outside free agent contract. They’ve signed Russell Martin. I think it was two years, $17 million it was over a decade ago. You want to talk about a pathetic organization, even worse than the Orioles over the last 30 years. And look, that’s a low bar. Look, I’m not saying, I’m not saying that to prop up the order.
Nestor Aparicio 49:04
Meanwhile, you got Tampa playing. We got the A’s running around. I mean, you know, where, where is the that was always the thing with Angelo is, like, we got problems in Oakland. We got problems over here. We got, we got ownership there. We got, you know, like, gotta figure it out.
8Luke Jones 49:19
I mean, the Tampa Bay situation, let’s also acknowledge a hurricane destroyed the roof of their ballpark. So that’s an extreme one. Oakland, well, Sacramento, or, I’m sorry, the athletics, which is what their official name is. Now, I mean, that’s, that’s embarrassing. You throw out the word disgrace a lot. And you know, I don’t use that word nearly as much well. It’s
Nestor Aparicio 49:43
a disgraceful situation when it’s beneath where you’re standing in life is, and what you know to be better. That’s when I use the word disgraceful. That’s literally that. That’s that’s where it is when you talk about this, when you talk about a situation that’s been years and I mean. Decades in the making, and they’re playing in a minor league ballpark. That’s the expo thing that was decades in the making as well. You know what? I mean, it really was, but that never
Luke Jones 50:08
got the way. But even that never got, well, I guess what? They did play in Puerto Rico, actually. So maybe, you know, dude, you know that was, yeah, I kind of forgotten about that. But, yeah, yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s bad. It’s
Nestor Aparicio 50:21
8really they wanted Puerto Rico to take and by the way, Rico doesn’t have electricity as we speak. Be remiss,
Luke Jones 50:26
and I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I saw this pointed out the other day. They’ve had empty seats even in that Sacramento minor league ballpark, so it kind of speaks to well,
Nestor Aparicio 50:35
they’re charging 80 bucks to get into which is one of the reasons Katie Griggs getting a letter from me. Um, before I just want to say this on the Jackie Robinson thing, I in no way think they shouldn’t be honoring Jackie Robinson. And I, I like the number 42 I just think every player in the sport wearing a blue 42 it is patronizing, and it is confusing on that night, and it is over the top show. We showing just to show when you could show it the other 364 day. It’s like sending box of chocolates and flowers on Valentine’s Day and being a jack wagon the other 364 days of the year. So that’s how I see it. That’s how I see And last thing dear Katie Griggs, I’m writing a Katie Griggs letter because I’ve been trying to get my press credential back, because everybody keeps asking me about it, because they see Mr. Nice Guy, Rubinstein. He’s got a bobble head. Um, do you see Katie Griggs around? And is there anything that you would ask her if she came up said, hey, here you work for Nestor. Here’s media guy. I’ll give you 10 minutes. What do you want to know? Like, what is there anything that you see or feel that you think should be included in legitimate questioning for ownership or management as they give out bottles. You know what my first question would be, spend money on pitching. That’s where you are. No, no.
Luke Jones 51:51
Where are you? With director consumer streaming, okay, you are. You are. And I’m not going to include the NATs because you’re responsible for the NATs distribution for this last final year. Where the heck are you with? You talk about the fans. Where are you with direct to consumer streaming when you and the Houston Astros, who at the very least, they’ve won a couple World Series in the last decade, so they’ve at least reached the pinnacle in terms of on field success, where are you with direct to consumer streaming? Because from, from an outsider’s view, new ownership coming in, to me, that might be the biggest that might be at the top of the list, as far as the biggest failure in in terms of, if you’re really trying to make this about the fans, and you’re trying to make this as accessible as possible, you’re you’re 10 years behind, maybe that’s a little unfair. You’re at least four or five years behind the rest of Major League Baseball when it comes to streaming because you were late even allowing mass and subscribers to be able to stream, let alone talking about now where, if someone says, I don’t want to have to subscribe to 100 plus dollar a month fubo Or $200 a month Direct TV to watch your games. So where is that?
8Speaker 1 53:06
You know that? And you know that’s not the only question, but that’s a big one for me. I’ll continue to and it resonates because I just cut the cord this this winter. So I’m saying you’re, you know, you’re not half my age, but your generation behind me. I mean, what are you doing to keep missing my wife, engaged in baseball, to come down and give you money and continue to wear orange things that aren’t curio sponsored and and be part of what you’re doing? You know, I recently, you know, you and I were recently in the car with Barry, not long ago, and Barry and I were talking about this. We’re very similar in age. He hasn’t watched the Orioles on a regular basis in years because he doesn’t have a full blown cable or satellite subscription. They don’t. It doesn’t. It’s not enough value for them. So to not even be able to have an option to buy something for 20 to 25 or $30 a month, which, again, what’s the price point? That’s appropriate? That’s for them to figure out. But for that to not even be an option for someone who’s in market, where you just say, well, I I’ll watch them when they happen to be on TBS one night, or they’re the fox Game of the Week this summer, or they happen to be on ESPN for Sunday Night Baseball once or twice this year, other than that.
Nestor Aparicio 54:16
Or go to Costas and watch the game now. Or I’ll do that, or I’ll catch them on the
Luke Jones 54:20
radio. You know, again, I’m 41 and I’m, you can tell, like with me and I have it, you know, I have a bubo, but I’m spending more on that than I would be able to otherwise. So. But what do you think if I’m saying that as and again, I have to, that’s part of my livelihood to watch, maybe not 162 but I watch a very, very high percentage of the games over the course of the year. Well, then what’s, what’s a 41 year old who doesn’t have to watch all the games, let alone talking about 35 year olds who have kids, or 30 year olds who have kids, or 25 year olds out of college? Who have grown up in a streaming world where I gotta go get, not gonna go get an XFINITY or direct TV subscription. I mean, get out of here. So you’re missing out on that, and you’ve missed out on that for quite a while. You know, I that, yeah, extend gunner Henderson and all these other things. You know, the ballpark renovations, there’s so much they have to do. There’s no, no doubt about that. But that’s a failure when you’re one of two teams left three counting the NATs, which, again, the NATs are the Orioles are responsible for that, their distribution at the end of the day. So that that’s that’s a disappointment to me, that they didn’t, they weren’t able to figure that out in a year, and I get it, I’m sure they have carrier agreements for this final year with mass and having the NATs rights. But figure it out, especially, you know, you come in and you’re a billionaire and you’ve got this ownership group, you know, this investor group that you put together, it’s got to be a way to figure that out. You know, maybe they’ll announce it in at the All Star break that though they’re going to be offering something for the second half. If they do, I’ll say, good. Finally, that’s that’s a good thing, but they don’t have it this year. And there’s only one other, one other team in baseball, other than the Orioles and NATs, that that are in that in that same boat. You know, that’s not something to that’s not something to be proud of, to state the obvious. Well, especially
Nestor Aparicio 56:22
8if they want to keep you around the rest of your life. I mean, you love baseball, you keep
Luke Jones 56:27
me, but my friends, who all stream at this point, they’re not watching the games consistently. I mean, they’re watching them when they can, but they’re not doing it consistently, because they’re not going to drop a hunt, at a minimum, $100 a month just to access it for, you know, the one streaming service that they are on which, hey, at least they’re on that. So I’ve been able to save some money on that front. You know, when I say me, I just mean speaking as a consumer, but it’s still still an expensive commitment that I otherwise, you know, might not, not, might not be subscribed to something that’s that invest, you know, that expensive as it pertains to TV, because I’m like everyone else. I’ve got Peacock, and I’ve got Netflix and Amazon, and, you know, some of those. And you know, I could watch WWE on peacock. I’ll be watching WrestleMania this weekend, by the way, but the original pay per view, but as it pertains to like these, you know, traditional cable, I mean, things are changing, and they’re changing rapidly, and not even saying for the good, because all of those things put together, by the way, are starting to become just as expensive as cable and satellite. So it’s kind of come full circle. It’s just way more of a headache. To your point all the time, where’s the game tonight? That’s only going to get worse. And that’s not an Orioles thing that’s across sports, and it’s only getting worse. They
Nestor Aparicio 57:48
should be aware that I agree, that the I agree, yeah, that is the Garden of Eden, and that’s going to be the dollar signs in their eyes. That’s all. That’s all iron I talked about the other day because he’s one of the West Coast League, we got off the show and we end and, you know, he said, I hate that. When I go to a major league baseball game, it feels like all they’re trying to do is get as much money out of me as they can. And I said, it’s sort of like the peep show in the old days. Put the quarter in to keep the movie going. Put the quarter in, put the quarter in, put the quarter you know, they like that’s totally never get
Luke Jones 58:20
to that inning by inning. My goodness, can you imagine if they say, Hey, we reached the seventh inning stretch. If you want to watch the rest of the game, give us $1.99
8Nestor Aparicio 58:29
I’m telling you like it feels that way to me. And for that, Katie Griggs is getting a letter this weekend. He is Luke Jones. He is Baltimore, Luke. We’re covering sports. We’re doing stuff. We’re talking community politics. I got rock and roll this week. I got football this week with the draft, I’ve got basketball, lots of basketball this week. Peter Ranson last week. Larry Stewart from COVID state coming this week. Also had a great conversation about graduate studies and getting a better education with our friends over COVID state. Just had a wonderful chat this week as well. So I am Nestor. He’s Luke. We got plenty going on. We are W, N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. I.
