Orioles continue to contend in AL East despite injuries and slowly warming bats

It’s been far from perfect but it’s been good enough for the Orioles to remain very much in the hunt in the American League East as the scuffling Boston Red Sox come to Camden Yards this weekend. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Birds taking two of three in Kansas City and tip-toeing through all sorts of injuries, cold bats and a bullpen that’s provided much-needed relief to help them hover near .500 while awaiting better health and Camden Yards cooking.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent performance, highlighting their 2-1 series win in Kansas City. They praised the team’s early scoring and key performances from players like Pete Alonso, Trey Mancini, and Koby Mayo. They also noted the bullpen’s strong outings by Tyler Wells and Anthony Nunez. Concerns were raised about the team’s defense and the ongoing injuries to key players like Jackson Holliday and Gunnar Henderson. The conversation also touched on the upcoming home stand against the Red Sox and Astros, with hopes for improved performance and health.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Change the studio backdrop to the Roberto Clemente Bridge image before the upcoming draft coverage segment.
• [ ] Drive to York, PA, purchase a sandwich from Primani Brothers, and eat it sloppily during the planned Pittsburgh-themed draft segment.

Orioles’ Performance and Upcoming Schedule

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Orioles’ recent performance, including their road trip to Kansas City and their upcoming home series against the Red Sox.
• Nestor mentions various events and locations related to the Maryland crab cake tour, including upcoming visits to Koco’s, Pizza John’s, Planet Fitness, and Faidleys.
• Nestor highlights the importance of the upcoming draft weekend and the involvement of WNST tech services.
• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the Orioles’ current standing as a 500 team and the challenges they face, including the recent loss to the Royals.

Positive Takeaways from the Kansas City Series

• Luke Jones praises the Orioles for their performance in the Kansas City series, emphasizing the importance of winning series against teams like Kansas City.
• Luke highlights the encouraging signs from the Orioles’ offense, particularly the early scoring and the approach taken by players like Pete Alonso, Trey Mancini, and Jeremiah Jackson.
• Luke discusses the significant at-bat by Colton Cowser, who hit a changeup for a base hit, and Koby Mayo’s three-run home run in the sixth inning.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of the Orioles’ bullpen, particularly Tyler Wells and Anthony Nunez, in closing out the series win.

Challenges and Opportunities for the Orioles’ Bullpen

• Nestor and Luke discuss the challenges faced by the Orioles’ bullpen, including the absence of key relievers like Helsley and Rico Garcia.
• Luke praises the performance of Tyler Wells and Anthony Nunez, particularly Nunez’s first major league save and his ability to strike out Bobby Witt Jr.
• Luke mentions the need for more high-leverage relievers and the potential return of players like Kittredge, Keegan Akin, and Dietrich Enns.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the possibility of making tough decisions regarding the bullpen, including the potential outrighting of Albert Suarez.

Injuries and Their Impact on the Orioles’ Lineup

• Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of injuries on the Orioles’ lineup, including the absence of key players like Jackson Holliday and Gunnar Henderson.
• Luke highlights the positive contributions of players like Jeremiah Jackson and Leoti Tavares, who have stepped up in the absence of regular starters.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the challenges faced by players like Ryan Mountcastle and Koby Mayo, who have had to deal with various injuries and mistakes.
• Luke raises questions about the strength and conditioning program, suggesting that there might be underlying issues affecting the players’ health.

The Importance of Defense and Complementary Baseball

• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of defense and the need for the Orioles to improve their fielding.
• Luke highlights the differences in defensive play between the Orioles and other teams like Kansas City and Cleveland, emphasizing the need for better consistency.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of defense on pitching and the potential for the Orioles to play more complementary baseball.
• Luke mentions a metric that shows how some Orioles starters have been hurt by their defense, suggesting that better fielding could improve overall performance.

Upcoming Home Stand and Expectations

• Nestor and Luke discuss the upcoming home stand against the Red Sox and Astros, expressing hope that the Orioles can take advantage of playing two teams with worse records.
• Luke mentions the potential return of players like Tyler O’Neill and the need for the Orioles to get healthier to improve their performance.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the home stand in setting the tone for the rest of the season and the need for the Orioles to build on their recent wins.
• Luke emphasizes the need for the Orioles to play more consistent baseball, including better defense and more productive offense, to achieve long-term success.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles, Kansas City, BoSox, draft, baseball team, injuries, bullpen, defense, offense, Jackson Holiday, Gunnar Henderson, Pete Alonso, Tyler Wells, Anthony Nunez, lineup depth.

SPEAKERS

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Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, AM, 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively, taking the Maryland crab cake tour out on the road. It’s all brought to you by friends at the Maryland lottery, as well as G, B, m, c, where I walked a mile in their shoes last Friday, and our friends at Farnham and Dermer. I got the gear on here. Got the hair right. I’m actually headed to Costas to get some crabs tonight. I’m excited about that. Going to be Koco’s on Thursday next week. Going to be pizza John’s next Friday, the first, the seventh word planet fitness in timoni in the 13th at faidleys. And I just learned today that the 21st of May will be our big night at the fishmonger’s daughter in Catonsville. So I’m looking forward to that Luke Jones is here. We’re wrapping up a well, first off, we’re getting ready for the draft, and the draft is going to be a weekend experience. And if you’re on the wnst tech service, you know how good it is. It’s been two decades. It’s all brought to you by cold roofing and Gordian energy. Lots of picks, lots of things going on, but in the meantime, exhale on the 14th pick, because the baseball team does not play on Thursday. I wonder where they’re all gathering and watching the the draft, Luke, but you know golf clap certainly for getting out of Kansas City the way they did, and the battle, I guess, shown all the way around, and whether it’s Mayo hitting tape measure bombs or not being able to deliver the ball to first base in the ninth inning. You know, they’re a 500 team, right? They look the part, and that’s the way they’re playing it right now. And the holiday news is not good, right?

Luke Jones  01:37

Well, we called it a GET RIGHT series in Kansas City. I think the minimum expectation if you’re a team that is going to be taken seriously as we get deeper and deeper into the season, is these are the kind of series you need to win, especially against the Kansas City team that hadn’t been playing well, had been in the midst of a losing streak prior to Tuesday night’s game. So you know, it’s Wednesday, you’re finishing off a road trip. It’s easy to kind of look ahead to the off day. You see teams, and not specifically talking about the Orioles, but you see teams at times mail that in. So one it was good to see them score early. We have not seen them do very much of that at all this season. So of course, Pete Alonso hitting a home run going the other way, in the first inning off waka, who’s been fantastic so far in the early going. And then, really, I mean, for me, probably the most encouraging takeaway from the entire series is probably the sixth inning on Wednesday, when you look at some of the approaches beside waits on the two, two change up, you know, kind of similar to the approach we saw from from him Monday night when he had a couple hits. Tavares does it again. He stays on a two, two curve ball to drive in a run. Jeremiah Jackson, it’s a slider. Hits it off the end of the bat a little bit, and then after he totally blistered a ball earlier in the game on a fastball. How about Colton cows are on an oh two changeup? I mean, we’ve talked for the better part of two years now about his inability to hit change ups. He stays on that and it hits a change up, and that precedes Mayo hitting a three run bomb that just landed as I’m talking now. I mean, absolutely crushed it. So that was just, I really liked that inning. And obviously Mayo has the memorable blow to kind of cap it for them in that sixth inning. But just really like the approach from those guys. I mean, not trying to do too much, going with the pitch, using the opposite field, hitting something off speed or breaking ball. I mean, most of most major league hitters get to the major leagues because they have some competency to hit the fastball right, but in order to stay in the big leagues, you have to be able to do more than that. And even though some of the guys I just mentioned aren’t necessarily the guys that we think of as the young core and the prospects and all that, but it was still good to see that. It was good to see that kind of an approach, especially, you know, and obviously they lifted waka in the midst of that inning. But you know, when you see a guy, you’re seeing a guy the third time through the order, that’s when you’re hoping to get to him. Statistically speaking, when you’re talking about starting pitchers, you should have the most success when you’re seeing them the third time, because you should be more familiar with them. So I just liked what I saw there, and then considering the fact that Helsley goes on the bereavement list, you know, dealing with a family situation, he wasn’t going to be available anyway. Same with Rico Garcia, because he had pitched the previous two nights. I mean, how about the job that Tyler wells and Anthony Nunez did slam in the door? I mean, especially Nunez, you know, first, first, you know, opportunity for his first major league save, even as you mentioned. I mean, Kobe Mayo throws away what should have been the last out. Bobby Witt comes up as the tying run and he strikes him out. I mean, Nunes has been really, really impressive. So I like the way they finish the series again. They have to build on it, right? We can keep talking about you. These good wins in isolation, but until you start stacking, we’re going to keep talking about them in the terms we are right now, which is, they’ve been mediocre, they haven’t been terrible, but they haven’t been very good so far. But I did like how they finished off the series, earning a win in the rubber match, getting a series win, and

Nestor Aparicio  05:16

now, especially after the walk off wild pitch loss, I mean, yeah, just a weird game that, that Tuesday night was a real, pu

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Luke Jones  05:24

really, yeah, yeah. I mean, it was frustrating, right? I mean, they had how many wild pitches in that game. And, you know, another outing where, you know, you’re Shane Boz again, wasn’t terrible, but you’re, you’re waiting to see more, right? You’re waiting to see more and and obviously they had some issues in the pen. I mean, Rico Garcia proved he’s human. Finally, he gives up a home run in that. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  05:47

you knew he battled on Wednesday. It was

Luke Jones  05:49

good to see that. I mean, it was, I mean, obviously you look at the final line and statistically, it’s still bad. I mean, he gave up five runs in five and a third innings gave up a couple long balls. I’ll say this, you’re seeing better command from him, at least. I mean, he walked two and five and a third innings. We’ve talked about it. I mean, entering, you know, to this point in the season, he has more walks than strikeouts. I mean, that’s just, it’s not going to play. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care if you’re 37 years old, 27 year old or a 21 year old rookie. I mean, you can’t, can’t pitch like that, so, but since his first couple starts, where we said that was kind of reminiscent of April Charlie Morton last year, he’s, it’s been better. It still needs to get a lot better. I mean, he still needs to be better.

Nestor Aparicio  06:34

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He’s a $19 million investment that this franchise has never made at that point.

Luke Jones  06:39

So, yeah, yeah. I mean, and, I mean, put the money aside. I mean, he’s just, he has to play.

Nestor Aparicio  06:45

He has to be a difference maker. Yeah, I agree.

Luke Jones  06:47

I mean, I, when you say difference maker, I mean I, and I

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Nestor Aparicio  06:51

don’t get to give him five or six innings every fifth day. Give you chance to win, right?

Luke Jones  06:55

I mean, he doesn’t. He’s not the number one, he’s not the number two, but you need to give your team a shot and give your team inning. He pitched into the sixth inning. I was glad to see that. So that’s what I mean

Nestor Aparicio  07:05

about him battling. It did. That’s what. He didn’t look hopeless on Wednesday. He looked like a major league pitchers figured

Luke Jones  07:11

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out, right? Yeah. I mean, I, you know, he’s still not missing very many bats. And look, I’m not saying he was a big time strikeout guy the last few years, but you’ve got to fit. You’ve got to miss a few more bats than what we’ve seen from him, and the command has to be better. So he’s a work in progress, obviously, but he gave them a chance. And I think the thing that was most disappointing with him was after they had the big sixth inning, was how he came out in the bottom of the sixth and gives up a home run, extra base hit, and you look at that, and obviously they had to go to the pen, and Cano ends up giving up a two run homer. But that, that, for me, is what was kind of disappointing. I agree with what you’re saying, generally speaking, but I would have liked to have seen hate. You know, here’s a chance. You’ve got a chance to, you know, he ended up getting the win anyway, but your team just put you back ahead. You’ve got a little bit of cushion here. How about a shutdown inning right there? And he’d be the first to tell you that. I’m sure you could tell he was kind of disgusted with the way that his outing ended. But like I said, with the bullpen being short handed after extra innings on Monday night and plenty of work on Tuesday that I really liked what I saw from wells and Nunes, it looks like Wells is finding his footing a little bit, you know, even if, even if you’re not going to necessarily expect him to pitch the eighth inning with you, kind of the way you look at this bullpen, but it

Nestor Aparicio  08:29

builds confidence that he didn’t have a week or two ago, for sure, and but

Luke Jones  08:33

Wednesday is also a perfect example of what I always say to you throughout the offseason, right? You need, you need more than a couple guys for high leverage, because Wednesday was a perfect example, right? Helsley, who wasn’t with the team, but wasn’t going to be available anyway. Garcia wasn’t available. So who’s going to pitch high leverage? All right? You knew you had Nunes, and you knew Nunes was probably going to get the ball in the ninth inning if it was a save situation. So you needed it from some other people. You and I haven’t talked too much about him, and maybe Wednesday’s outing wasn’t the best example. Canoe has been pretty good overall so far this year. Wednesday wasn’t his best work.

Nestor Aparicio  09:07

Well, the Bullpen’s been pretty good.

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Luke Jones  09:08

Yeah, so but, but, but that was a great example, though, because you’re not you can’t just pitch the same guy in the eighth and ninth inning every night, right? That’s just not the way it works in modern baseball, with the way that pitching, strat pitching staffs are constructed and the way that starting pitchers are handled. If you don’t have at least four or five guys in your bullpen that you have a legitimate level of trust to basically pitch in just about any situation, then that’s probably not a very good bullpen, and it’s probably going to catch up with you. Now they have to do this for another five months, right? I mean, it’s still early, you know, even when you’re talking about the things that you’re praising, but Kittredge is close to coming back. Keegan akin should be close to coming back. Dietrich ends should be coming back. I mean, they’re actually in a position where they might have to make a tough decision here, right? I mean, I you kind of look at how they’re bull. 10 has performed, you might be in a position where you might have to send someone out that has actually pitched pretty well.

Nestor Aparicio  10:06

So that’s a good problem. I gotta start figuring who has options, right? Yeah, yeah.

Luke Jones  10:10

I mean, I mean, I hate to say it, one of them Albert Suarez who doesn’t have options. But you would think you can probably outright him to Norfolk. He’s probably very vulnerable. So, you know, we’ll kind of see how it plays out. And obviously, let’s not make any assumptions here, because, you know, maybe this is where we transition to the latest with Jackson holiday. Just because you think someone’s on a rehab assignment and they’re ready to come back, things can change, right? Yeah, well, you

Nestor Aparicio  10:36

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mentioned Jeremiah Jackson getting big hits, and Tavares playing his role and all of that. ABC, Chase Alexander the bench, this holiday westburg, this tender part of this. And put curse that in there. Put cows are in Mayo in there for being Mike bees and not is, is got rushman back, you know? I mean, he’s out there playing, you know, I don’t Bad News Bears ball. I don’t mean it was crazy how many times he had to use his chest protector to keep the ball in front of him, and then eventually didn’t on the wall pitch the other night. But you know, he’s fresh back to this. We haven’t talked about him being back, because he’s been back a blink, and now we’re already talking about holiday might not get back, and this the attrition of the potential of their best players and their best prospects. I mean, it gets very sort of bleary and murky and muddled in all of this as they’re winning games with Jeremiah Jackson and

Luke Jones  11:36

leoti Tavares. Yeah, I mean, and that’s why I was so heartened by what I saw in the sixth inning. You know, with cows are having the kind of a bad he did, Kobe Mayo hitting a bomb again. I mean, good to see that, right? I mean, good to see that, because they’re going to need it, quite frankly. I mean, they’re going to have more injuries this year. Now, you hope it’s not as pronounced as it’s been, although we said that for six months last year too. We said that the second half of 2024 It’s why I’ve I’ve asked questions at time, but like, you know what’s exactly going on with strength and conditioning? Is there something missing here, or what have you?

Nestor Aparicio  12:10

But why Ryan mountcastle running around first base and just getting tripped up in his own feet? I mean, just been crazy stuff going on? Yeah. I mean some, I

Luke Jones  12:19

mean some stuff has just been freakish, but, and this hasn’t been the case quite as much with what we’ve seen so far this year, but last year, with all the hamstrings, obliques, things like that, when I see soft tissue injuries, I ask a few more questions, then, in terms of like, okay, are is something missing? Not, not that these guys aren’t in shape, but is, are they not doing something? Are they doing something? Is something out of whack, that something, you know, is there an oversight? But some of this stuff’s just been freakish. I mean, you know, let’s go back to Jackson holiday for a moment. I mean, a handmade I don’t think there’s anything you can do to prevent a hammate injury, right? I mean, Ken Griffey Jr had one once upon a time, once upon a time, I remember Nick marca’s having one. In fact, it was the Orioles playoff here. Remember he had his thumb broken that September, but it was the middle of the season. He had a handmade bone injury. But, you know, in the case of holiday here, this is usually a six to eight week thing. I mean, he’s coming up on around 10 weeks now, and I don’t, I’m sure you saw the clip, and it was on social media that the swing and miss and the pronounced discomfort that he appeared to be in, you know, I’m not going to sit here and say that I’m predicting the worst, because I, you know, some players react, I mean, and it looks bad, and sometimes you find out it’s not so bad. But you really do have to wonder if there’s something else going on. Because handmade injuries are generally cut and dried in terms of returning. Now, that doesn’t mean a guy is at his 100% best version of himself, hitting for power all those things. I mean, we’ve talked about it. Corbin Carroll has been great for Arizona. Francisco Lindor is off to a bad start, as is the entire Mets team right now with with the disaster that they’ve been but for holiday to be in this position where those guys were ready for opening day, I mean, those guys actually played in a handful of Spring Games, and they had their injuries right around the same time as holiday, that’s where you start to wonder, is there something else going on With the wrist? Is there something else going on with something else going on with his hand? Is there a ligament issue that you know? Is it something that maybe they have had a tough time wrapping their their arms around it? Hopefully, this MRI that he had Wednesday will will clear things up. Because as much as I’ve been sitting here and saying to you that a handmade injury isn’t this thing that you question someone’s viability for a full season, or anything like that at the same time, if there is another issue, or if there is something else going on here, hand and wrist injuries for hitters like you, don’t want that to become something chronic that a guy’s dealing with that for a long, long time. So. They clearly have to get it right. The silver lining is Jeremiah Jackson has been one of their best players so far, and it’s looking at least for the time being. And you know, again, I don’t want to speculate too much on holiday, but I think it’s safe to say he’s not going to be back in the next week or so with the way this is going. So it’s been good to see him do what he’s doing, and it’s just a reminder of, you need lineup depth. You need position player depth. You need pitching depth, right? I mean, you know you’re not going to get through a season with the same 26 guys. Orioles have learned that the hard way the last couple years. Now, you hope it lets up and there’s, you know, it relents at some point. But, man, it is frustrating. So we also hope

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Nestor Aparicio  15:45

you find some players. And giving Mayo these at bats and Jeremiah Jackson, they found a player, you know. So I mean, think of where the team would be without him and Tavares right now, if it was just up to Alonso and just up to to the star players, or gunner Henderson at this point, with no rushman in there. Besides, you know very much figuring it out, right? May it was very much figuring out. Cows are figuring it out, and they’re 500 and and the bullpens been better, if we’re going to be really critical of them and say the defense stinks, offense has been spotty at best, situationally, leaving runners in scoring position. I think they strike out too much. You think they’re walking more. So that’s fine, that’s good, but the bullpen has been the thing that’s not lit them on fire. You know, when they’ve had a chance to win, they’ve managed to win games because of Nunes Garcia’s and guys that have settled in over the first couple weeks to make us be like, All right, well, that’s one thing that’s a little better. I think we both believe the starting pitching is going to be better. I mean, fingers crossed all the way through. We did a whole segment on Rogers and Bradish and and baz and the whole thing. But the lineup part of not having a holiday, not having a westburg, not having a mayo come around to be capable of holding that position down, because Westberg is not coming back and playing third base like that’s not happening anytime soon. So this Mayo thing to kind of get organized and hit a couple of balls out every week and make his first error. I should save the season late in the game on Wednesday. You know, I don’t see you live with it, but you hope that the upticks coming like the Peter Lonzo thing, the upticks coming like the rutsman thing, right? Getting him back.

Luke Jones  17:41

No question. I mean, look, you kind of go one through nine in this lineup. Gunner Henderson’s not swinging the bat right now. I mean, got picked off two times the other night. I mean, inexcusable kind of stuff. This was a bad series for gunner Henderson. He’s hitting 189 as they go into the off day. That said amongst their younger players. Let’s say he’s the guy had the least amount of worry about. Now, he needs to be better. He’d be the first to tell you, needs to be better. But we haven’t

Nestor Aparicio  18:08

hit the button to say that there’s an alarm there yet. He’s hitting sub Mendoza, and it’s, you know, there’s a month in the year, so we’ve been easy on him to some degree, and it feels like in the nights they Winnie, it’s a home run. So, yeah,

Luke Jones  18:23

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I mean, he’s, he’s actually done it, and he’s done it for some extended periods of time, whereas Kobe Mayo right now, it’s hopes and dreams and a good September last year, right? Colton cows are it’s runner up for rookie of the year two years ago, and really haven’t seen so you’re counting on that. Pete Alonso has been bad so far this year, like let’s just call spade a spade. He’s been bad so far. He’s been good in the field, but you didn’t pay him 30 you’re not paying him $31 million a year to be a good defensive first baseman. That’s supposed to be what comes with it. You’re not paying him 30 plus million dollars a year to be a good clubhouse guy. That comes with it. You’re paying him to hit home runs and be productive for you so. And to this point, you know, he’s he has a sub seven, sub 700 ops. I mean, he needs to be better, but he has a track record of being a five time all star. And I have a

Nestor Aparicio  19:12

feeling Ian Anderson are going to be fine, exactly so, and if they are, that’s going to win the game.

Luke Jones  19:18

That’s the point I’m trying to make. However, if this is going to work, and you’re going to be better than mediocre, and you’re going to be a wild card contender, and you’re going to have one of the better offenses in baseball as we get later into the season, you’re going to need it from from more than those guys. And let’s throw Taylor ward in there, since he’s leading the oh, by the way, yes, he’s.

Nestor Aparicio  19:37

He’s been really good.

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Luke Jones  19:38

Hasn’t hit home runs, but he’s plenty of doubles, right? And he’s been a big part of the top of their lineup. But beyond those three, that’s when you’re looking at the rest of these young guys, or in the case of Jeremiah Jackson or leoti Tavares, unexpected sources, let’s call them you need.

Nestor Aparicio  19:56

Well, they’re only playing because they’ve been productive. Sure, I’m. Mayo is playing. Because who the hell else do we have, right? So there’s a little bit of that, like these guys are singing for their supper because, and that’s the same thing for Dylan beavers. He doesn’t hit, he won’t

Luke Jones  20:10

play, right, right? And by the way, since you mentioned Dylan beavers, I mean, it does sound like, it’s pub. You know, it does sound like Tyler O’Neill could be back this weekend, so he’s at least back in the mix for how long your guess is as good as mine, but that that’s a guy that I didn’t even

Nestor Aparicio  20:24

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talk about him like, right? Oh, I understand.

Luke Jones  20:27

But at the same time, we also saw what this lineup was looking like against left handed starters recently, where Jonathan Rodriguez was hitting cleanup, so you’d like to have Tyler O’Neill in that spot, at the very least, right against the left handed starter. That’s why they signed him two winners ago for good, bad or indifferent. That’s why one of the biggest appeals for appealing factors for him, but for this lineup to be more complete, for it to be better, for this to be an above average offense, let alone talking about top five or anything like that that you know, people other than you and me were talking about, I mean, go back and look at Jeff pass ins tweet about the Orioles lineup when they signed

Nestor Aparicio  21:07

Pete Alonso, yeah, but I’m talking about that when Richmond’s Batting seventh or eighth, because holiday in Westberg and cows are all so productive that, like, That’s how good it could be, right? But the point is, you

Luke Jones  21:18

need some combination. Look, we’ve said it for a while, any expectation that every member of the young Corps was going to be an all star, right? I mean, that was never realistic. That said you need more than just gunner Henderson out of that group to be consistently productive. And that’s been the problem going back to last year, even. So the guys that are

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Nestor Aparicio  21:40

playing have been productive, and the guys that we think could be productive, like Westbrook holiday, aren’t

Luke Jones  21:45

playing, right? They’re not playing. So it’s a moot point. I mean, availability has to be the Paramount part of your skill set, because if you’re not on the field, potential doesn’t mean anything then. So that’s why I liked what I saw on Wednesday. It’s, is it one game? Yes, in the case of mayo, is it two home runs in two to two games? Yes, but you’ll take it because, one to your point, you really like, what’s the alternative right now? I mean, okay, you can put Blaze Alexander there. He’s not, you know, and he’s not a former all star player or anything like that, right? I mean, he’s, he’s still a guy that’s still a young player and all that. And, you know, best suited to be more of a utility guy. I mean, if Kobe Mayo can be a blossom into a 25 home run guy, not saying this year, but if that’s what he can be at some point in the next few years, like you’ll take that, you know, that’s that a 30 a 30 home run third baseman, if he doesn’t make 28 errors, right? And can hold his own. I mean, you’ll, you’ll be tickled if he can do that. No, can he do it? I have no idea, right? The first 400 plate appearances of his major league career haven’t been great, other than one month last September. But you also see what he can do when he gets a hold of one, like he did on Wednesday. So they, we’ve talked about it. They need more guys to produce. Obviously, they need Henderson and and Pete Alonso to be cow and Eddie. I said that in a very simplistic way before the season started, right? I mean, they need those two guys to be their dudes. They haven’t really been that so far in 2026 I mean, Gunner for a little while, Alonzo, not really at all. So you’re still waiting for that, but you need some other guys to step up as well, and we’re going to see how that looks. It’s funny because three or four weeks ago, we were pointing to this point in the schedule where things would start to pick up. Yet Boston’s really scuffling and has not looked like a very good team. So far, they’ve really struggled to hit the ball, and Houston, they’re in last place in the NL West, you know, as you’re kind of looking at the end of action on Wednesday. So, you know, you kind of look at this home stand through a different lens, in the same way that we kind of thought the early season schedule would be not a cake walk, but looked very forgiving on paper. Now you look at this home stand that a month ago, looked like it could be a bear, and now you’re hoping, hey, you’re playing two teams that have worse records than you do right now, this is a chance to have a winning home stand and get yourself, maybe get yourself over 500 by the end of this home stand.

Nestor Aparicio  24:21

So well, they have five healthy starters with Kramer into this now. So like, at least from that perspective, I feel like those guys taking the ball of your fifth day, whether heating up a little bit, some home cooking, all of this that we’ve talked about, that there will be an ON light for Alonso and for gunner Anderson that won’t look like whatever this has been, that’s been 500 and hasn’t really bottomed out for some of these guys, at least.

Luke Jones  24:47

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Yeah, I mean, we’re gonna see how that plays out. But with Boston, I mean, they’ve really struggled to score runs. I mean, I think they went into Wednesday last in the division, and maybe next to. Last in the American League and runs scored. And on the flip side, Houston scoring plenty of runs. So that’s going to be a challenge for Orioles pitching, but they’ve given up more runs than anyone in the American League. So that’s where you look at this thing and say, okay, the offense started to show a couple signs. You know, they had the great sixth inning on Wednesday. Now you come home and, I mean, it’s a Houston look at their rotation right now. It’s, I mean, it’s just ravaged by injuries, and, oh yeah, framber Valdez isn’t walking through that door either. So obviously they’re, they’re in a very unique position. I mean, the Astros haven’t looked like this. And I don’t just mean in the win loss column, but kind of how it looks, even on paper right now. It’s been a long time. I mean, this is kind of the what they look like. I don’t want to say that they look as bad as they did during their rebuild years, but they certainly aren’t looking like the 2016 17, 1819, Astros, that’s for sure at this point. So they stopped

Nestor Aparicio  25:56

cheating, and we took Mike Elias

Luke Jones  25:59

writing, said, SIG, you know, so, but, but, yeah, I mean, I’m, I’m hopeful this home stand, they can come back and get some home cooking. To your point, I’m still waiting to see more out of the rotation. It hasn’t been awful, but it hasn’t been very good either. So I’m looking to see more there, hopefully, hoping you get a couple guys back, couple more guys back during this home stand. They should think you’re going to see a couple bullpen guys back, you know, Tyler O’Neill, we’re going to wait and see what the prognosis is on Jackson holiday. I’m not holding my breath. There. You hope it’s not the worst, but it’s clearly not great. But this feels like the Orioles have a chance to be the, you know, this club has a chance to be the most intact. It’s been in a while, at least, over the next week or so, which, Hey, I’ve said it all along. I don’t want to dwell on the injuries, right? Because that just gives everyone else a blanket excuse not to play well. But they do need to get healthier. I mean, that that has been a very real factor as far as what we’re seeing so far, just like last year, the injuries were a very real factor. But it can’t be a complete excuse. And you know, you want to see cleaner play. You want to see them not making as many mistakes, right? I mean, those are the Make in the field. When the balls hit, you make the play, right? I don’t need it to be gold.

Nestor Aparicio  27:12

Bobby with that, that complete like rope he threw the plate. I mean, oh, I mean, good defense is beautiful to watch.

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Luke Jones  27:22

I’m glad you brought that up, because I thought that was a really good send by Buck Britton. I mean, you look at it, he was rounding third on that play even before whit had taken the relay. And he come, he turns around and just throws an absolute rope. And you thought at that point in time, you’re kind of thinking, Oh, I hope that doesn’t come back to bite them, to to miss out on. I mean, it was great play again. I have no problem with this end whatsoever. It took a perfect throw. But, yeah, when you’re looking at that game and it’s a two run game late, you’re really hoping that, old man, I hope that doesn’t come back to bite them, but, but, you know, you are

Nestor Aparicio  27:56

seeing a perfect throw in that situation, because, because most guys can’t do it. You know, that’s the thing. This is the big leagues, and that’s the way we would envision it looking in the good years, when the Orioles were good, in the 70s, in the or when things are, when the trains are, we’ve, we’ve watched a lot of good football here with the Ravens right over the years, like the way it’s supposed to be played, versus the way, like the Browns play it. And the Orioles have had a lot of this, and when I see it well played, I’m like, I don’t think the Orioles are capable of that.

Luke Jones  28:27

No, no, I that’s in fact, I’m glad you brought it up, because one of my biggest takeaways from this road trip, and I’m not trying to be too much of a Debbie Downer here, but I think it’s just calling a spade a spade. You look at how Kansas City defends, and go back to the Cleveland series, and you saw how they defended man that that’s a different brand than what the Orioles are capable of playing right now. Now, maybe there are certain guys on this roster who can get to be closer to that. I’d like to see more consistency to can. Can you at least see a defense that’s trending closer to average than just plain bad.

Nestor Aparicio  29:03

8

You said something this week. I heard it on the radio when I was going over to Planet Fitness earlier, and you said they don’t value defense. It’s clear. It’s obvious, based on who they pick, that you’re you’re right.

Luke Jones  29:15

Hard to argue with it. I mean, I mean, who’s a plus defender on this team? Jeremiah Jackson, in a very small sample, has been good at second base. I will continue to say it. Colton kauser is a plus outfielder at a corner spot center field. That’s a little more debatable. He might be much more average in center but he’s a he’s a rock solid to good corner outfielder beyond that. I mean, you know, Tavares used to be, from a metric standpoint, a really good center fielder. I’m not sure he’s really good in center I think he’s fine out there, but I mean Taylor Ward’s Taylor Ward has not been good in left field. I mean, I we know about mayo. He hits doubles. Pete. Alonso has been one of their best defensive players, and that was not his MO he was known for that he could he was a good scooper at first base, but not necessarily. I mean, he turned a really nice double play on Wednesday. Yes, he did see but let’s face it, it’s I forget. I forget how I worded. I was actually talking to my cousin, who’s just, you know, a die hard Oreos fan. I mean, the few games that I’m not watching, he’s watching and texting me, as was the case a few nights ago when I actually was not watching a game. But I made the point. I said, Man, if there’s a play to be made out there, meaning, like, there’s a good play to be made out there, Cleveland goes and does it? Kansas City does it. The Orioles never do it. I mean, they, and I don’t mean that like ball going through their legs. I mean, like, if there’s a a good relay, for example, I mean, there was a play where Bobby Whitt, you know, kind of, he conjured a great play out of nothing, right there, right and just saved his team a run. And as a result, he had a chance to come up to the plate as the as the tying run with two outs in the ninth inning. I mean, there you go. I mean, that

Nestor Aparicio  31:02

would have been, I wouldn’t say that play because it was Bobby Witt. It’s just because he’s Bobby Witt. But like making that play, I like seeing those plays, and I don’t see enough of them watching Oriole baseball, yeah, on either side. But certainly the I’m not expecting the orals to make those plays. No, I

Luke Jones  31:17

don’t, for me at this point, just make the routine plays at least. I mean, they have those, if they could start doing that, that’ll help out your pitching. It’s funny, because we’ve talked a lot about the rotation, and, you know, I’m not going to belabor the point here too much, but I was, I was looking at something the other day, and, you know, me, I’m a, I’m a baseball stat nerd, but it was some kind of metric that was looking at trying to quantify which starting pitchers have been hurt by their defense the most. And again, you take it with a grain of salt. None of these metrics are gospel, right? I mean, I’m not trying to say it is, but there were a couple Oreo starters in that list that I saw. And you know what, I wasn’t very surprised based on what I’ve seen out of this defense so far. So for me, that’s something that, can you get a little bit better there not it’s not going to become great. I mean, it’s just not. But can it become better? Can it become closer to average? If you do that, that’s going to help your pitching, that’s going to help your starting pitching, that’ll help your bullpen as a result, and then, oh yeah, your offense is in a better position then to help you win games if you have a little more margin for error, or, on the flip side, if your offense is better, then they give you, give your pitching and your defense a little bit margin per error. I just, I want to see them playing, start to play a little more complimentary baseball, if they can do that. And again, that doesn’t mean everything great, everything’s going to be great. But if they can be a little more complimentary, that’s where I think you can start to see them stack some wins. You know, it’s wild. You look at prior to Wednesday, their last three wins. You go back to that Monday night comeback against Arizona, the game where Albernaz got hit in the face, the comeback they had in Cleveland after they had given up the Grand Slam. And then the extra inning game on Monday night, I think I saw each of those games, they had a win probability that was down to like 8% in each of those games, like so basically, I don’t want to say miraculous wins, but extremely improbable comeback victories. And a lot of people were making the point of man, last year’s team wouldn’t have won that game. Last year’s team wouldn’t won that game. But the thing that made that left me unmoved. Was, well, yeah, you’re talking about three wins, but they also lost six wins in that or lost six games in that stretch, right? I mean, so you can have these good last

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Nestor Aparicio  33:30

year’s changes, lost to all the games, not just six out of nine. But the point

Luke Jones  33:35

is, you can’t have a say something’s an uplifting win if you go out and lose three in a row right after that, right? I mean, at some point you need to start building on it. So that’s where I was heartened by what I saw on Wednesday, where they’ll come back when it wasn’t a massive deficit, but come back, take the lead, have the big sixth inning, and then they were able to hold on. I mean, that that was nice. Now you go into the off day, hope you get a couple more guys back healthy. Fingers crossed. On holiday, you hope that you get some good news. That’s not something that you know. It’s going to keep him out way longer than he already has been, but at the very least now you come home and, like I said, two teams that a month ago, you would have thought, hey, this could be a really, really tough home stand. And there was no assumptions here, let’s be clear. But now you’re looking at this and saying, Hey, go beat up on the Red Sox. A little bit beat up on the Astros. Keep them down while they’re down.

Nestor Aparicio  34:27

Right now, I gotta get my wife to find that Red Sox Jersey she got in her closet, put that thing on. It’s a good time to have that, right?

Luke Jones  34:33

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Yeah. I mean, the Red Sox, I mean it’s, it’s wild. Go look at their lineup, and just get back to me then, I mean, there’s just that doesn’t they have pitching. Don’t get me wrong, they have pitchers, even though, you know, crochets had his issues and and you know, Rangers Flores is still kind of getting acclimated and what have you. But I mean that just that does not look like a Boston Red Sox lineup right now, and I know they have got some good young players that they’re counting on to play. Top. But when you consider dealing Devers last year and then bredman walks after last year, and,

Nestor Aparicio  35:07

you know, they feels like a little empty bear, if, unless they can.

Luke Jones  35:13

And, you know, like Roman Anthony is a great, great young player, right? I mean, he’s

Nestor Aparicio  35:16

going to be an MVP, but he better be. It’s the same thing with Gunner Anderson. He better

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Luke Jones  35:20

Precisely, precisely. And it’s just weird. I hate to say this, and I don’t want to say this to let the Orioles or ownership off the hook, but they kind of look their offense right now. Kind of looks what you’d expect the Orioles that how they would proceed, rather than like you’re the Boston Red Sox. You don’t go out and buy a slugger after Bregman leaves, you know, or you don’t resign Bregman. So just kind of weird from them, and that

Nestor Aparicio  35:45

was more like them to sign Peter lonzer than the Orioles, yeah, right.

Luke Jones  35:49

Or they go out and get Schwarber, you know. So, I mean, it was surprising, well, on that front, I mean, it’s early, but you look at them, I mean, you know, nine and 14, you know, 10 and four, you know, like that kind of territory for them that’s very unread. SOCKS like, well,

Nestor Aparicio  36:04

8

the Royals can put the green jerseys on to look like the Fenway monster. They can, you

Luke Jones  36:08

know, I think I joked to you when they wore when they first broke out the city connects, they absolutely should ask the Red Sox, hey, we’ll wear our Camden Yards green and orange. You wear your Fenway green, and we’ll just have a city connect celebration. How about that? And no one will be able to tell who the heck to anyone.

Nestor Aparicio  36:23

Well, I saw the 92 All Star Game logo, and it kind of reminds me of that. So, yeah, I mean, and that’s 34 years old. You have to really be a young old timer to remember that logo. I remember because I ran into Getty Lee that night. So there’s great, you know, oh, Canada. Luke Jones is here. He will be resting Nice. He’ll be watching football draft all night, dude, 81 in Pittsburgh. I offered to take you, you know, I offered to take you to Pittsburgh.

Luke Jones  36:53

How shocked Would everyone be if we just suddenly, you

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Nestor Aparicio  36:57

know, you and I, like Brent musburgh, we

Luke Jones  36:58

are live in Pitts. Ravens are on the clock, and you and I are just shooting a Facebook Live or something.

Nestor Aparicio  37:04

You know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna change my backdrop for to the Roberto Clemente bridge. Is what I’m gonna do. And you listen, put on a parka, put, you know, get your lips all chapped, and we’ll just pretend we’re in

Luke Jones  37:16

8

Pittsburgh, all right? And you know what? You know what I’ll do. I’ll go, I’ll drive up to York and I’ll get a sandwich from primani Brothers, and I’ll eat

Nestor Aparicio  37:25

it this real sloppy. Get A Six Pack of icy light you’re in Pennsylvania. They don’t import that in the Maryland. We don’t let that here. But if you get, you know, get an icy light and it’ll just look like we’re in Pittsburgh tomorrow. But Luke’s not going to Pittsburgh, even though he lives in Pennsylvania, he’ll be there all weekend monitoring things. Actually will be in Maryland. You’ll be in Owings Mills all weekend long. And the liars luncheon is over. The fire hardball era is over. Drafts, you know, mock drafts are over, you know. So it’s just I fixed my hair for Mel Kuiper, and we’re going to be ready for draft all weekend. He’s Luke. I’m Nestor. The crab cake tour is real and alive. I’m going to Koco’s on Thursday, and I bring home leftovers because it tastes good and it makes me happy. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.