Pitching in the rest of the Orioles season?

With Felix Bautista and Zach Eflin now on the injured list, we wonder who will pitch once the dealing is done. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the trade day options of Mike Elias as the Baltimore Orioles dealt away Ramon Urias and Andrew Kittredge on Wednesday night with more news to come on Ryan O’Hearn and Cedric Mullins. And who knows who else?

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent trades, including the departure of Andrew Kittredge and Jorge Urias, and the potential deals involving Colton Cowser, Cedric Mullins, and other players. They highlighted the team’s bullpen issues, with Felix Batista sidelined due to shoulder inflammation, and the need for significant roster overhaul. Jones noted the Orioles’ financial flexibility, allowing them to trade players under control for future assets. Aparicio expressed concerns about the team’s long-term strategy, emphasizing the importance of acquiring starting pitching in the offseason to compete in 2025.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Assess the Orioles’ options for rebuilding the pitching staff, both in the rotation and bullpen, through free agency, trades, and internal development.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Analyze the Orioles’ financial situation and the potential challenges they may face in investing in pitching this offseason.
• [ ] Evaluate the Orioles’ trades of Urias, Kittredge, and others to determine the long-term impact on the team’s roster and competitiveness.
• [ ] Monitor the status of Felix Batista’s shoulder injury and its potential impact on the Orioles’ bullpen plans for 2023.
• [ ] Evaluate the Orioles’ long-term strategy and the likelihood of them being able to field a competitive team in 2023.

Orioles’ Trade Deadline and Roster Changes

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Orioles’ recent trades, including the departure of Andrew Kittredge and Jorge Urias.
• Luke Jones highlights the significance of the trades, particularly the impact on the bullpen and the potential acquisition of young talent.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the Orioles’ current roster and the potential for future trades, including the possibility of dealing Colton Cowser or other young players.
• The conversation touches on the Orioles’ financial situation and the need for significant roster changes to improve the team’s performance.

Impact of Injuries and Player Performance

• Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of injuries on the Orioles’ roster, including Felix Batista’s shoulder injury and the recent performance of players like Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn.
• They debate the potential for the Orioles to be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, considering the team’s recent performance and the potential for future trades.
• Nestor expresses concern about the Orioles’ ability to attract and retain talent, given the team’s current financial situation and the potential for a work stoppage in Major League Baseball.
• Luke emphasizes the need for the Orioles to address their bullpen needs and the potential for young players to emerge as key contributors.

Mike Elias’ Strategy and Team Dynamics

• Nestor and Luke discuss Mike Elias’ strategy and the potential for significant roster changes in the offseason.
• They reflect on Elias’ history with the team and his approach to player development and roster management.
• Nestor questions the long-term impact of trading away young talent and the potential for the Orioles to build a competitive team in the future.
• Luke highlights the challenges of rebuilding a bullpen and the potential for young players to step up and contribute in key roles.

Financial Considerations and Team Ownership

• Nestor and Luke discuss the financial implications of the Orioles’ trades and the team’s ownership’s willingness to invest in the team.
• They reflect on the team’s financial situation, including the impact of the work stoppage and the need for significant investment in the bullpen and starting rotation.
• Nestor expresses skepticism about the team’s ability to attract and retain top talent, given the team’s current financial situation and the potential for a work stoppage.
• Luke emphasizes the need for the team to address their bullpen needs and the potential for young players to step up and contribute in key roles.

Future Outlook and Team Building

• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential for the Orioles to build a competitive team in the future, considering the team’s current roster and the potential for significant roster changes.
• They reflect on the challenges of rebuilding a bullpen and the potential for young players to step up and contribute in key roles.
• Nestor expresses concern about the team’s ability to attract and retain top talent, given the team’s current financial situation and the potential for a work stoppage.
• Luke emphasizes the need for the team to address their bullpen needs and the potential for young players to step up and contribute in key roles.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles, trade deadline, bullpen, Felix Batista, Andrew Kittredge, Jorge Urias, Colton Cowser, Mike Elias, starting pitchers, injuries, roster turnover, minor league prospects, financial strategy, offseason planning, team rebuild.

SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

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Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 task Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive. I am wearing my is this peach or salmon? I’m not sure what it is. It’s not orange, and it’s certainly not pink. My Costas Timonium shirt with the crab on there, I’m getting ready to kind of eat my face off. I mean, I’m looking at the calendar. I’m like, it’s gonna be an interesting August. We’ll see. I’m gonna weigh myself at midnight on the 31st it’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. I’ll have a pressure luck. It is our 27th anniversary, which I like having the Lucky seven, because it’s our 27th anniversary, not our 26th anniversary, and I’ll be enjoying my 27 favorite things. The I actually had a little switcheroo at like number 24 I just my conscience wouldn’t allow me to let my favorite Mexican American place not be a part of the countdown. So I’m going to do that. Luke Jones is here. He’s my favorite Pennsylvanian. Well, sort of you are a Pennsylvanian. I don’t think of you sort of like that, but you’re doing double duty here. Last 10 days, you’ve been out in the heat and humility and humidity and the it’s likely that Isaiah likely will not be in Buffalo on September the seventh, but we get this trade thing going on. It’s hour to hour, moment to moment, as you and I are taping this, the sun is coming up over the harbor and, uh, Kittredge is gone. Urias is gone. By sundown, by the time this thing’s stale and people are laughing at us, and probably got three more W, N, S, T texts brought to you by coal roofing and Gordian energy. Um, the people are expecting to get traded haven’t been trade yet, but that’ll happen by six o’clock. Yeah, and

Luke Jones  01:45

that’s what’s kind of interesting about this trade deadline at this point. I mean, we go all the way back to a couple weeks ago when the Orioles dealt Brian Baker. We’ve talked about that. I’m not going to rehash that too much, but the point was, there was club control there in the case of Andrew Kittredge, who was dealt or, you know, nothing has been announced, as you and I are talking in real time, but the overnight going into Thursday, dealt to the Cubs, which the Orioles are in Chicago, playing at Wrigley Field over the weekend. So that’s kind of an interesting dynamic, but he had a club option for next year. They’ve already gutted their bullpen. We you and I really haven’t even had a chance to talk about the most recent update on Felix Batista, which is not encouraging with, you know, swelling and inflammation in his shoulder, that they’re not even putting out a diagnosis yet, which that doesn’t sound good, not saying it’s the worst case scenario, but does. It’s not the best. It’s

Nestor Aparicio  02:44

been a bad week between Isaiah, likely and this. You know what I mean, like, just in general, for injuries begin, since the last time you and I talked, it’s like bad news, and, you know, all quarters, but as their value has devalued, and players have been hurt or ineffective, I mean, Charlie Morton feels like he’s coming on. You know, even Cedric Mullins, for sure. Flash is a little flashy flash, flash against Toronto, and they’re scoring runs and they’re hitting the ball. And some people are on Tuesday after the sweep, were like, maybe they’ll be buyers. And you know what? Maybe they will be maybe by sunset today, they’ll have a starting pitcher for next year in some way, because they deal off Colton cows or, dare I say, or something like that, because it feels like they’ve had plenty of time to do nothing but evaluate this, right? I mean, this is Elias over the last eight weeks, where everybody wants his ass and wants him fired, right? The baker thing was about getting that pick. It was about, can we fleece anybody and get a sandwich pick for any of these guys? Can we get, can we get something young for any of these guys? And they did, and they pulled the trigger on we both said, Hey, there’s a guy that that’s not going to be in the bullpen next year, right? And now they’re doing that sort like, so I don’t know that there’s a book on this, but the book would be Mike Elias doesn’t have feelings. And I don’t even mean like, in regard to Trey Mancini. I mean in regard to 12 years ago in Houston, where pieces get moved or say he’s been around this a long time. Like, like, he’s not as married to Colton cows, or as you and I and Oriole hangout is, or whomever, or even Adley rochman, or any of these people that he’s looking at pitching for next year and starting pitching for next year, and by sundown, you and I are going to have our scorecards out. Like, it’s Draft Day, a little bit like, like, who’s going to spring training next year? What does a team look like? How much money are we getting to spend? These are the questions I have by the end of the day today, and that’s sort of what I’m evaluating him on, is the totality of the strategy.

Luke Jones  04:52

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And that’s fine, and I don’t disagree with any of that. I mean, I think what we’re seeing is a far cry to this point from suggesting. Trading Colton cowser, or what you know, anyone else from their young core of that ilk, of that ilk, you know, I mean, everyone that’s been traded has either been someone that’s on an expiring deal, which we’ve expected all along, right? The idea that they were going to trade Sir Anthony Dominguez, the idea that they were going to trade Gregory Soto, the idea that, you know, they would deal any of the other names we’ve talked about that as you and I talk right now, haven’t been dealt yet, but we fully expect by the end of business, you know, by 6pm on Thursday night, they’ll be gone, because we’ve talked about Cedric Mullins and Ryan o’hern and Charlie Morton and, you know, we’ll see about Eflin. We’ll see about Sagano. You know, money’s a part of that, because those guys are making a pretty penny this

Nestor Aparicio  05:42

time last week, Jim Bowden’s on the MLB saying, hey, people are calling about Batista, right? Like, you know, that’s out in the water that people were calling about him, maybe put out by Elias to create. I mean, that’s the way this game works. Is of you know, inflate the value of your guys. Why? You know, inflate the value of how Cedric Mullins is coming on, and can really help you independent race, that that’s all you have at this point. When you’re in last place and they are hitting the ball better this week, do you want to be nice? I mean, apparently I’m a jerk and because they’re in last place. But I mean, when they do good things, score 18 runs on Saturday, you know, make everybody’s head turn. It’s just maybe it’s a flash for what they can be next year, but it’s a little bit more of what wasn’t this year, sort of, maybe,

Luke Jones  06:32

yeah, well, and I would also say they’re gonna have to score runs like that to win games the rest of the year. I mean, who’s in their bullpen? Yeah, you’re guys I’ve never heard of, every night, yen, your Cano, who we saw Wednesday, what that has looked like for and obviously that was an extreme example, but he hasn’t been very good this year. I mean, he even spent a brief stint in Norfolk in late June, so we know know about that. And Keegan Aiken, beyond that. I’m shrugging my shoulders literally on camera right now, because who is going to be in their bullpen next year? And look, I’m not suggesting that there was any reason to be attached to the members of this bullpen.

Nestor Aparicio  07:13

Well, I mean, these are guys, you say, Soto and Dominguez. They weren’t on the team a year ago today. They got here a year ago, right? But so and then Kittredge is another guy that like that was bad money we’re on. I mean, not Kimbrel, bad money, but bad money we’re on, you know. So, I mean, I don’t know where the top down with the money is coming from, or where the revenue streams are or are not, and they’re sending out season ticket books here this week as a last place team, they don’t have all star game in their pocket. They don’t have playoff tickets for sale right now. I’ll get into their business a little bit more in August when I get out on the road and bring my Marty Conways and, you know, my deep thinkers, Mari Brown’s coming on this week because Oakland’s playing it next week. And so I’m bringing people in, and we’ll get the Ryan Sandberg too, because that went on this week too, is we’re going to Chicago. We’ll be hearing about that. But, I mean, there’s plenty of baseball stuff, but for this organization, this is a picking a part of, sort of the carcass of a last place team, you know what I mean. And I went back to like, um, well, first off, I had Fred Lynn on. He was part of dealings, and Chris hoyles and Mike bottaker and Brady Anderson and Kurt Schilling and like all that stuff that happened when they busted it up 35 years ago, to say, what are the pieces they’re getting that are going to germinate to become Kate Povich or yenne Your Cano or contributors, right? Just contributors. Where are they going to get these guys? I don’t know, but it feels to me like as much as Elias his last press conference, which happened in dugouts wherever. He feels like Melanie Newman sitting close enough to him so it doesn’t get tough questions that he says they’re not blowing it up. I mean, I mean, they have four or five core ball players, five if you get if I’ll give you cows, or six if you give me mayo, and besides, oh, and whoever else is there, I don’t even they have no core pitchers. Dean Kramer, I guess, I mean, I guess he’s a core pitcher, I guess. I mean, I don’t know. I mean, it’s it, it’s really set them up to have to have a spectacular off season in some way to make anybody believe that they can pitch past day three in April of next year. Like, literally,

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Luke Jones  09:38

yeah. I mean, I’m not going to argue with that last point whatsoever. I mean, that’s why I am a little bit surprised to see them deal off Kittredge. Not that Kittredge. I mean, he missed the first two months of the season, had a knee injury, right? I mean, that’s not something that you anticipate. You know, that’s not, Oh, this guy has a, you know, bad shoulder, bad elbow in the way that you think you pick up. Damage goods, right? I mean, so it wasn’t exactly like that, but, but that said his numbers are right in line with what his career numbers are in terms of his era, in terms of strikeouts per nine inning, per nine innings. Because so I thought, when you look at the state of the bullpen and now, I mean, what is going on with Felix Batista? And I’m not talking about pitching the rest of this year. I don’t, I don’t care about that as much. Is it gonna be okay for next year, or is this a case where we’re now talking about some kind of long term shoulder issue where you’re wondering if he’s available next year? So so you’re looking at this in terms of the totality of the bullpen has just been blown up, and now the guy that you thought was going to be the anchor for that who had a really good year this year? I mean, it’s not like Felix Batista has been bad this year, but now he has a shoulder the issue on top of coming back from Tommy John two years ago. So what does their bullpen look like? Who is going to be in their bullpen? Okay, Keegan Aiken, I assume yen, your Cano. But like I said, I mean, it’s not like canoes having a great year after that. I literally don’t know. I mean, I there are names that we’re going to see here over the next two months. You know, Corbin Martin got a save the other night, right? He’s got a good arm. We’re going to see a bunch of names that you’ve never heard of before, including,

Nestor Aparicio  11:21

like the 2019 Orioles all over again, from a bullpen perspective, for sure, and maybe starting perspective if, by sundown, you know, Evelyn and Morton are gone, maybe even Sugano Right. Like, I don’t know who’s going to be pitching this weekend in Chicago.

Luke Jones  11:34

See, okay, in Chicago, sure, but, but even the starting pitching you can see, at least, and I’m going to work under the assumption right now they’re not going to trade all three of those starters. I’m thinking it’s going to be definitely one, maybe two. I’d be a little surprised for three, because I just don’t know if there’s going to be that much of an appetite for where Zach effin is era wise, with the money that’s still owed to him for the rest of the year, and the same with Sagano, right? I mean, if you’re a if you’re a contender, and you’re requiring Tomoyuki Sagano to do what be your fifth starter and not be on your postseason roster, I’m not saying it’s impossible. I’m just saying I’m not completely sold and convinced that they’re going to be dealing three starting pitchers on the last day before the trade deadline. But even with that, even with that acknowledgement, or even the possibility Cade Povich is going to be back soon, right? Kyle Bradish is making, has made two minor league starts at this point, so his return is not that far off. Tyler Wells has begun his rehab assignment, so you at least have at least a few recognizable names down the pike that that you can look at from a starter standpoint. But, I mean, Elvin Rodriguez is in their bullpen right now. Houston Roth is in their bullpen, right?

Nestor Aparicio  12:52

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Houston Roth is the place sir. Anthony Dominguez is the best name on the roster. And that’s a good roster where you got gunners and Jackson’s and adleys. You got things going on? Oh, I mean that, you know, these are great names, Cage Stroud,

Luke Jones  13:06

Grant wolferman, we’ve seen, we’ve seen those guys a little bit here over the last month or so. Corbin Martin, I already mentioned, I’ve

Nestor Aparicio  13:12

seen enough of those cats to look and say is, are they part of 100 win ball club next year? I don’t know. I don’t know. Man.

Luke Jones  13:18

I mean, what would that role be the entire group? No, of course not. But over these next two months, do one or two of those guys emerge and then suddenly they’re the next, you know, I mean, I don’t want to say Felix Batista, that’s an extreme example, but, you know, CNL, Perez, three or four years ago, came out of nowhere to be a really useful part of their bullpen for a couple years. You know, Danny coulomb was a waiver claim. I mean, so like, there are different ways to build a bullpen, but when you just look at it being gutted to the degree that it has been, and specifically, when you look at the case of Baker, who had years of club control left and Kittredge, who had a team option for next year, that’s where you look at this thing and say, Are you really going to be able to rebuild an entire bullpen in one off season?

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Nestor Aparicio  14:06

So they might have just said those guys aren’t good fits here in whatever way and whatever way that is. They identified Mike Elias identified those guys, and this is what I said the day he dealt Baker, is that I’m saying it’s just a lot. He’s in control and he doesn’t want to he’s not going to war with these guys anymore, and keeping his job and worried about his job and worried about the team next year, it feels to me like he’s got carte blanche to make he is still it’s his canvas for Mr. Rubenstein, right? And part of whatever his canvas is it’s using Mr. Rubenstein’s money, and I don’t know that he’s got draft collateral in the off season. Or to your point, when I say Colton cows are and everybody’s stones get tight about dealing guys that that are ours for other Rs, not ours, like right handed ours, as in a. Five big leaguers. For big leaguers, you take my young outfielder, I take your young Dean Kramer, and I get another Dean Kramer, and I can live better with another Dean Kramer than I can with another Colton cowser. Like literally pitching so important, all their arms are falling off. I don’t know what Rodriguez is. The braddish thing. There you go. I mean, it’s got Bradish, his name into this segment. He’ll be the pitcher soon. I guess at some point, you know, you’ll start to say, by September 10, is he good enough? Is he not good enough to be thinking about him pitching opening day next year, or where they’re going to go steal their next Corbin burns and what they’ll have to deal to get that? I mean, it’s gonna have to be a hell of an off season around here. Luke

Luke Jones  15:42

Jones, yeah, I don’t disagree with that at all. I mean, I and again, let me be clear when I’m talking about the bullpen here, this is not me being attached to these guys. It’s the reality of how lengthy the grocery list is, right? I mean, you’re looking at needing 4567, relievers, maybe, I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  16:02

and you have nothing in your system, count on if you like Batista, that’s fine. You mean that way, but,

Luke Jones  16:10

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I mean, I don’t, I wouldn’t say nothing. I mean, but, but there’s just a lot of unknown, right? I mean, Chase McDermott is a guy that maybe, maybe pivots to a bullpen role, right? I mean, failed

Nestor Aparicio  16:19

start, dude, this is where you and I can work, because the next eight weeks, we’re going to find out if they have nothing, they’re gonna have to go pitch every night and pitch a lot, because they’re not going to have efflin, or, you know, one of these guys, Morton, giving them five or six innings every fifth day.

Luke Jones  16:35

Yeah. I mean, and it’s going to be finding out a lot. I mean, it is. I mean, this is going to be a two month evaluation. We’ve talked about that on the position player side too. We’re going to see bisail at some point. I want to see Dylan beavers especially. I mean, you want to, you want to trade Colton cows. Or my, my question to that over and over is, okay, who’s in your outfield next year? I mean, not

Nestor Aparicio  16:54

even like the Colton cows. I’m just saying dealing a player who is an IS, doesn’t is that’s all.

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Luke Jones  17:01

I’m not. And look, I’m down on Colton cowser right now too. But my point is someone’s got to be on this. You need 26 players on your roster next year, and the assumption is you’re trying to contend. So that’s where it is interesting to me to see them deal off, you know. Okay, Baker, on July 10, Baker going into spring training, we didn’t know if he’s even going to last, right? We didn’t think he know if he was going to be on the opening day roster, let alone he was going to be around. He was out of options. So I wasn’t, you know, I was unmoved about that. Overall, I’m not the biggest Brian Baker guy in the world. And Elias will look at that 37th pick and say, That’s gold. Yeah, it is, but, yeah, three years from now, which is exactly why

Nestor Aparicio  17:44

I think he’s keeping his job.

Luke Jones  17:48

I mean, well, more so than that one even, but the fact that you trade Ramona Rios, the fact that you’re trading Kittredge, I mean, these were guys that you didn’t have to do anything other than pay them money to be on your roster next year. And look, I’m not saying Ramona RIAs and Andrew Kittredge were the end all be all to a contending club, but

Nestor Aparicio  18:08

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they’re going to miss Urias every time holiday Henderson or Westberg has a hangnail. And you can look up how many times those three guys have actually been in the lineup together, the percentage this year, it’s not good. And the fact that you would need a body, yeah, to do that job and do it defensively, as well as any of them. You know, I was a little shocked in the overnight to wake up to that one, but that that would also go back to 15 minutes ago, what I said, it could be a bombshell day in a lot of ways, if he’s, you know, because it feels like the thing he said last week, which is, we’re not going to, you know, we’re not pulling out big parts of the team. Well, four of the 25 guys they came to opening day with are gone, and three more about to be gone. That’s about 35% of the roster, and like, and Batista can’t pitch right now, you know, so all of a sudden we are looking at the team and whoever was on the flip card when, oh, Canada was rolling out that day, you and I, you had a press pass, and I didn’t in Canada. And Mark Shapiro’s a franchise that that, whatever that was supposed to be, that was going to win 9294 96 games. It looks like we’re going to keep holiday. Henderson, rushman and the rest of this is going to be blown up. None of these guys. I mean, Sugano is not going to be on the team next year on opening day, even if he makes it the sunset today.

Luke Jones  19:38

Yeah. So, I mean, and look, there’s, there’s always turnover, but yeah, I mean that that’s part of my point here. And again, it’s not to be attached to these players. And look, Ramona reas isn’t as good as he was three years ago. Ramona Reese has a sub 700 o, p, s. I think Urias is someone who, and you know, we’ve seen this at a couple different points over the last couple. Years when he wasn’t playing as regularly, then, you know, is he the best fit as a utility guy? Then, I mean, he kind of only plays third base, right? You know, the bat hasn’t been as consistent. Do they feel that there’s someone at triple A that’s ready to take that role, role at a fraction of the cost, and is younger and maybe gives you more speed or whatever. I don’t know. I mean, I’m just trying to rationalize it, because the player they got in return was a single a pitcher, twine Palmer, who was a 19th round pick last year. He’s 20. His numbers are okay, but he’s not like, like, he’s not even in the Astros top 30 prospects. Now the Orioles might look at him and say, Oh, we love that guy. We wanted to draft him. We, you know, they drafted him in the 19th round. He was the highest player on our board at that point. Let’s get him. We’ll save a couple million dollars for remote areas. That’s gonna we’re gonna need to go towards a bullpen arm or something like that. I don’t know. But that one was a little surprising to me, because I thought, okay, and I’ve talked about this, I’ve talked about Arias, I’ve talked about Laureano, I’ve even talked to you, you know, as much as we’ve talked used Colton cowser as our bit, I’ve talked about trading a member of the young corps more so thinking about it in the winter, right? But in the case of Arrius, it’s like you moved him with a year of club control left, and the return doesn’t sound particularly great. So that’s where I just kind of look at it.

Nestor Aparicio  21:25

I’m like, by the way, you just mentioned something that we have not talked about here since we put Peter in the ground money. So right? You’re like, hey, saved him a couple of bucks on pitching. Yeah. I mean, I know one thing about pitching in the off season, ain’t gonna be cheap, you know, whether you give it up, or you don’t give it up, or you’re going to buy it out in the open market, we have the whole, the whole cloud of the work stoppage, you know, sitting over top of all of this, as even as to whether a guy like Joe madman want to take a job, you know, whether people want to be involved in this next year, in the mess that all of this is going to be, but money and where the Orioles need to be as a financial invested for Mr. Rubenstein and his investors, because I’m sure he was promising this and that the last place team, they don’t have an all star game yet, right? They’re ripping the press box apart talking about, you know, what they’re going to do in left field and center field and center field and stanchions, and they’re out selling this and selling that, and the team’s not very good. And I’ll throw this at you and to say this however you feel about Urias kittridge Baker, who else have we got rid of? I’m missing one. Well,

Luke Jones  22:36

those are the three that you had under control for next year, if you wanted to. You know the Dominguez buddy ended at Soto, but he ended a day. There’ll be a couple more. I’ll throw them all in. A couple of those guys are making real money that really Soto and Dominguez. So I’ll just say, although, I’ll point out they, they actually threw some money in with Dominguez to get a better prospect. I mean, it was cash and Dominguez and they got Warren Watts Brown, who actually is a pretty, pretty nice pitching prospect. I mean, he’s, he’s 23 he’s not, you know, he’s at kind of double A right now. So we’ll see. I mean, maybe second half of next year, or something like that. But that, there was a case where they actually threw some money in with Dominguez to sweeten the return a little bit. So maybe that’s where you kind of have the push pull of they did that, and then, you know, they sell off Ramona RIAs thinking, Well, you know, we might have traded them in the off season anyway, and whatever, but these are really wealthy

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Nestor Aparicio  23:29

people that bought this team, and they’ve played the money bags role, and that’s why I call them that. And they’ve behaved with an arrogance that’s just beyond the Dundalk or, you know, Highland town and me like so I just, you know, I’ve been up down, I’ve been downtown, I’ve been around. I don’t get it. So I have no idea how unorthodox they’re going to be with their money, with going all in, which is just a couple 100 million bucks to these guys. Apparently, apparently, they like to let you believe that, just like the guy running the country just has enough money to do it like and it’s swimming in debt. This thing was a big nut. Luke, 1,000,000,008 a big nut for a bunch of big nutted guys. And they all like ROI, and they all like feeling good about themselves. They all like being winners. Winners. I’m a winner. And when they finish in last place, and they’re getting their ass kicked and they’re losing and Katie Griggs comes in here, and she doesn’t know, you know, a donut from a bagel, and she’s going to come in here and run the place, and the bean counters come in, and all the new people come in, and Elias tells them they have gold and they’re in last place. Everybody’s pissed off about pretty much all of it, you know, I mean, they look at me and call me nasty Nestor, and I’m Baltimore negative, and I’m all of that. You’re in the last place. You’re dealing off everything. Your general manager hides. You sell. Tickets on bobbleheads. You treat Jim Palmer poorly, like I don’t know, from a money perspective, with labor strike, lockout, pending revenue down, money bags up, egos in hiding, starting pitching, really expensive, even if you buy it, if you bought Corbin burns, he’s hurt. So you can’t even go into the boardroom and explain to Mr. Rubenstein how I bought Bono but he can’t sing this week. Well, what good is he to me? Like so and these people know nothing that guy that whistled the national anthem the other day. That’s a guy that intimidated me 16 months ago. He knows nothing about baseball. None of them do except Elias, and he knows a lot about baseball. I I respect Elias, but he’s going to be given the ship here in the off season. And I’m guessing that he’s told them we’re gonna go buy pitching, right? I mean, what else did he tell them we’re gonna go buy pitching with your money, or the money I’m saving on Urias here that I’m cobbling together like a squirrel foraging. But this is the way he ran the thing for Angelos anyway, on the cheap, so running it on the cheap and feeding the fans hamburger, because they don’t know the difference between that and filet mignon is just sort of okay. But this is a really weird time for this franchise, dude, over the last 15 months to watch this go from me sitting here saying it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever seen, to them having a piss poor sell off at the deadline right now, to Batista not being available. Rodriguez isn’t available. Henderson looks okay. Holiday looks like he’s coming on, but he’s a kid. Rutchman looks spent. Westburg Looks like he’s injury prone. Cows are I’m not a cowser guy. I like the cow and all that, and Chick fil A sells and peach milk shakes, but that’s my soliloquy before they go trading off whatever they’re gonna they’re still gonna wake up and be a last place team this weekend in Chicago, and they’re still not gonna have much. And I’m trying to figure out what builds enthusiasm, you know, for this thing, because I don’t this promise that they’re going to go off in the off season and buy pitching and do all of that. That’s a really empty promise, and that’s one that’s hard to fulfill if you don’t come back with Paul Skeens for Jackson holiday or something. You know, I don’t, you know, I’m making that up, but I don’t know how you you pitch that to smart guys like you, washed up, guys like me, or any level of the Oriole fan base beyond people that want bobbleheads. Yeah.

Luke Jones  27:41

I mean, I That’s why I said, you know, when you’re now also dealing off a couple guys who were under club control, it just adds to the grocery list. I mean, it, they have a heck of a shopping list right now. And when I say a shopping list, that doesn’t mean just signing free agents. There are trades, there are waiver claims, there are minor league signings that pop like Albert Suarez two winners ago, right? I mean, you’re doing all those things, but it’s a lot you have to do right now. I

Nestor Aparicio  28:07

mean, when I sorry, other teams are trying to find Sure, sure, a fifth starter, guy to hang on and we can make a role for you here, right? I mean,

Luke Jones  28:15

8

and let me be clear, some of the pitching that they have acquired already, you know, in these deals are not necessarily, you know, I mean, they’re not top 100 prospects. As I’ve said, temper your expectations. I mean, you don’t see top 100 prospects around the game, generally speaking, dealt very often at the trade deadline anymore. Go back and look at the last three or four deadlines. You don’t see those top tier prospects. Nobody’s

Nestor Aparicio  28:39

stealing jet bag well today, right? Just

Luke Jones  28:42

really don’t expect to see something along those lines, where it’s like premier prospects that you know around the game, right? I mean, someone else’s Jackson holiday. You typically aren’t seeing guys like that dealt around baseball someone else’s same Well, besides, oh, well, this would be

Nestor Aparicio  28:59

one of those things where it’d be like we dealt Bisso for scuba today, right? Or, you know, something that doesn’t happen in modern

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Luke Jones  29:06

baseball, you just don’t see that, right? Just don’t So, especially at the trade deadline now the winter, you know, we could talk about that a little bit more, but you just don’t see that. So, but some of the pitching that they have acquired, and, you know, it’s not as though I’ve disliked the trades, all the trades they’ve made. I think the ureas return felt light. Maybe they love twine Palmer. I mean, maybe they think, oh my gosh, this guy is we think he’s going to pop. And he’s made and, you know, again, he’s been good at single way. I just you look at his Cano, two years ago today, sure, no question. So I’m not going to sit here and but some of these pitchers that they’ve acquired keep in mind that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to keep them and draft them and develop them, and they’re going to be pitching for the Orioles 234, years from now. Those might be guys that they flip in another trade this winter. Year to go get a starting pitcher. Now, that doesn’t mean you’re not going to get Derek school, you know, a pitcher of that ilk, for that, but you might be able to get a number four starter or a number three starter, you know. So, I mean, there’s, they need a lot, right? I mean, there’s, there is a lot of volume that they need to add this winter. In addition to quality, there is a lot of quantity right now because again, their opening day bullpen. I have the list right here, and Kittredge is on the IL, so you know, but we’ll throw him in there. Kittredge gone, Felix, Batista on the Il. Who knows when he’s going to pitch again, sir. Anthony Dominguez traded Brian Baker, traded Gregory Soto traded Keegan Aiken, Keegan acre might be their closer now, who knows? CNL, Perez. DFA, he’s at Norfolk right now. I think there was a quick Twitch reaction to say, Oh, well, we’ll see what we’ll see. CNL, Perez, back, go look at his numbers at Norfolk. He’s been awful. I mean, he might be closer to just being outright released rather than being summoned to Baltimore, but we’ll see. Maybe we’ll see CNL Perez back here in the next couple of weeks. Yen your Cano gave up five runs on Wednesday, right? Not having his best year, certainly a far cry from where he was two years ago as an all star. Doesn’t mean he can’t figure it out, but and then Albert Suarez has been on the IL since the first series of the season. So that’s your opening day bullpen right there, and right now. I mean, it’s a bunch of guys that even a die hard invested still watching the Orioles every day. Kind of fan you put a gun to their head, they probably can’t name the eight guys that are in their bullpen at the moment, and that’s obviously doing a little projecting here when all these moves become finalized. So man, that’s a lot. And that’s not to say you won’t. You know. It’s not to say by two months from now, we might be talking about Corbin Martin in a different way, and saying, Hey, not going to make him my closer next year, but if he’s the seventh guy in my bullpen, I can live with that. I think you know, if you if you could come away with a couple, two guys, maybe three, if things go really well, that you can go into the winter and say, All right, I’m not just going to hand them a job in spring training, but he’s got good stuff. He pitched pretty well the final two months of the season. We even threw them in there in high leverage a little bit, and he handled that okay. If you can find a couple guys out of this group that we’re going to see and keep in mind there’s going to be a lot of roster turn to because these guys that they’re calling up are all going to have minor league options. So you’re going to be seeing the Norfolk train fired up to a degree that we haven’t seen in quite a while. But that said that doesn’t mean the results are going to be pretty that doesn’t mean that this team’s not going to be in a position where, unless they’re scoring seven or eight runs and on a given night, they might have a tough time winning, not might they will have a tough time winning if they’re not scoring runs in bunches. So yeah, I mean, it was great to see that they took three out of four from the Blue Jays. Fun. A nod to Cedric Mullins. Whatever happens here, assuming he’s going to be traded, a great final week for him as an Oriole. That was cool to see Ryan O’Hearn hits a home run on Wednesday. That was cool to see I’m not you trade those guys, because hey, if you love them so much, and they love it. Here. Go sign them in the winter. They did it with Mike bordick. What? 25 years ago, that’s that’s not a Hoff came back. Yeah, so and so. I’m not, I’m not, I’m not sentimental to the point where I’m not trading those guys. But was good to see Cedric Mullins make a couple highlight catches, hit a couple home runs. Good for him. I want to see him go to a contender. I want to see him play in the postseason and I hope when, when the organization, whether we’re talking about players, coaches or the front office, see some of these guys playing in the postseason, I hope it serves as motivation that, Hey, what the heck happened this past year? And a lot of soul searching is done, because there’s been failures all over the place, right? It’s not all Mike Elias fault, although certainly it’s a big part of his fault. It wasn’t all Brandon Hyde’s fault. It’s not all Tony mancellino and the current coaching staff’s fault. It’s not all the players fault, it’s not all the scouts fault, but they all take fall. They all take blame. There is, there are problems all over the place that have occurred this year that have contributed to it, including bad injury luck and all that as well. So but man, what a daunting off season ahead. I mean, Mike Elias or some, you know, hypothetical replacement in some fans wildest dreams, at this point in time, there’s a path to being better next year and to contending next year, but that grocery list is really, really long when you’re talking about an entire bullpen, and I don’t know even on the kind side, two starters. Restarters. I mean, that’s even if you’re sold on Bradish and Kramer and, you know, couple other guys, you know, K Povich and Tyler wells. You know, we’ll see about him. Tyler Wells is a guy I could see in their bullpen next year, until we see him pitch in the majors again. You know, before the year’s out, completely spitballing there. So, man, it’s just, it’s a lot, and now, when you’re talking about having dealt off a couple guys that you could have had next year just by exercising an option, or, you know, paying someone in arbitration, it does lead you to wonder, okay, what is next? How? How significant? How dramatic is this? Revamp, reload, rebuild, whatever you want to call it, because we all know this has been not nearly good enough in 2025 and it’s why they’re in last place, and it’s why they’re selling off guys right now, rather than you and I talking about them acquiring an ace or acquiring another bat or another reliever to help them for a pennant race that they’re not in right now,

Nestor Aparicio  35:59

but not cleaning house, but in search of starting pitching help for next year, we’ll see Luke Jones can be found out of Baltimore. Luke, He can be found out sweating out on the backfields, at least until the weekend, when the weather gets a little better. Here he’ll have full ravens reports the injury to Isaiah, likely all up at Baltimore. Positive. We’ve been talking about that as well as a whole bunch of sound if you put the radio on today in 1570 and your voices, it’s probably somebody in Owings Mills at a press conference around here this time of this week. Any breaking news that happens, trades, all that stuff, brought to you by our friends at cole roofing and Gordian energy, get yourself on the wnst Baltimore, positive tech service. You’ll be glad you did. You’ll get it first. I am Nestor. He’s Luke. We are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, we never stopped talking Baltimore. Positive you.