Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the chill of the Orioles bats and the necessary offensive productivity for a depleted pitching corps that canโt lose games like Monday night in New York. The Birds are going to need to score more than three runs to win.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
talked, runs, game, point, play, team, pitch, bullpen, pitching, weeks, good, bad, baseball, offense, santander, burns, yankees, fans, feel, year
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, Towson, Baltimore, Baltimore, positive. We are positively into a baseball week. Theyโre all baseball weeks, which is the beauty of being independent race. Itโs also the bad news when you you wake up after another loss and a bullpen loss. Weโre going to be on Friday at fadelies, hoping things go better against the cheatstros, the Gold Rush sevens, doublers, Iโm getting rid of these, the Raven scratch offs, I havenโt seen them yet, but we do have a commercial running for them. And I did have John Martin and Seth Elkin and a whole bunch of other great, great guests last week. Had a really enjoyable time. Hard to believe I go to Ocean City and sit in a convention hall 39th Street and have a good time. But I did, and you will hear the remnants of that here at am 15 seven. You can find it all out of Baltimore positive. In the meantime, the Ravens get ready for more fake football in Green Bay and cuts next week, we get ready for Labor Day holiday around here, thereโs a democratic convention going on, all sorts of things going on, but the Orioles are playing baseball up at Citi Field. The owner had a really good seat. Iโm writing a letter to David Rubenstein and others in the coming weeks. And you know, I mean, itโs a winnable game there, Luke, and I donโt know what else to say. Late they put themselves. We want more out of Rogers. We want more out of this. And that certainly the early going wasnโt great, but a winnable game, and a game that I feel like the good Orioles, the ones pre All Star break, won these kinds of games. They
Luke Jones 01:30
got to score more than three runs. I mean, we can talk about Trevor Rogers. He wasnโt great, but he was competitive. Was better than some of his previous starts. I get it, heโs their fifth best starter right now. I mean, thatโs where it is if Grayson Rodriguez comes back in the way that the Orioles expect him to and all this. I mean, we could see Trevor Rogers go back to the miners. Heโs he has options, or we could see him in the bullpen. I mean, itโs that simple. But Nestor, if you tell me before, before to Monday nightโs game that Trevor Rogers, Colin Selby, Keegan Aiken and Sir Anthony Dominguez are going to combine to give up four runs. I will probably take that in all honesty with the assumption that hey, my offense, that hey and between the two of us, Iโm the one that sticks up for the offense a little bit more here of late, but that was absolutely a game where you got to do more. I get it. David Petersonโs good. He pitched, well, I understand that. But
Nestor Aparicio 02:30
until he did this, until he didnโt, right, they let him into you talk about beating our manager. Update. You know to me, 10 too many for him. Well, sure,
Luke Jones 02:40
sure, well, and certainly a bulk and then giving up a home run to Ramona Reus, absolutely. But, I mean, itโs just as simple. This current state of the pitching staff is a fraction of what it once was, or what we thought it could be, with a healthy Kyle Bradish and John means, and go down the list, and obviously guys in the bullpen too, Danny cool and Jacob
Nestor Aparicio 03:02
Webb offensively, to throw him in there.
Luke Jones 03:04
Oh no, Iโm not, Iโm not going to throw Batista in there, because weโve known since itโs gone last October. All right, you know. All right, I got you. Itโs a challenge. But Mike Elias knew that, right? I mean, thatโs, thatโs one thing thatโs a little bit of a pet peeve of mine. When I hear people kind of talk about the pitching and they say, well, well, the Orioles havenโt had Felix, but they knew that last October, you have to treat it as though Felix Bautista left or retired in terms of roster building.
Nestor Aparicio 03:28
Well, they knew in January, Bradish might not be around, which is what they what burns, right, right, right.
Luke Jones 03:33
And thatโs a fair point, too. Anyway, thatโs just a little tiny aside. Your points, well taken. And point is, other than Jordan westburg, theyโre healthy on the offensive side, and Jorge Mateo, if you want to throw him in there. But you know, Jorge Mateo is certainly not a guy that leads the way with the bat. We know that, but theyโve got to score more than three runs. Three runs is not going to cut it. Weโve talked about this, that the state, the current state, of this pitching staff, other than nights where Corbin burns last Friday night aside, and, I guess recent, recently the month of August. But other than that, Corbin burns and Zach Eflin, maybe Albert, Suarez. And I want to, Iโm saying that as a compliment to Suarez, you score three runs. Itโs probably not going to win you many ball to lose data, lose, right? Yeah, theyโre, you know, theyโre not the 1995 Braves. Theyโre not, theyโre not built to win two to one or three to two right now. I mean, theyโre just not so. So it really is that simple. Youโve got to score more runs. And I get it. Itโs disappointing that, sir, Anthony Dominguez gets up, gives up a home run in the ninth inning and and if he now goes through a rut where heโs given up runs and is looking like the other bullpen guys then, oh boy, give me the selfie
Nestor Aparicio 04:44
guy. I want the guy with the biggest beard. Let him close. You know,
Luke Jones 04:47
you know what though. I mean, he pitched, well, I was kind of surprised by that, you know, kind of threw that back up slider. He impressed Palmer. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, look, am I going to sit here and say, oh so. The Selby is going to be their eighth inning guy come the late September and October. No, but if he can give you a lift, if he can help you out in the time of need. I mean, how about Keegan Aiken? He struck out five guys in two innings. Keegan Aiken, I let me be clear about this. I am not at all hitting 200 off him, dude, heโs what Iโm saying, he quietly, and letโs be clear, he hasnโt been asked to pitch a whole lot in high leverage situations, and there have been some times over the course of the year where he has been in that spot, gone well, but he quietly, has had a solid season for them. I mean, look, the numbers are, what they are. Heโs got a three and a half era. He does miss some bats? Do I trust him to pitch in the eighth or ninth inning of one run game most nights? No, of course not, but the bar is really low right now for their bullpen Nestor. We know that, so he quietly has done a decent job for them. And I mean, he gave them a chance, and again, your offense needs to score more than three runs on a night when Trevor Rogers is starting and on a night when Selby and Aiken are guys that are pitching meaningful innings for you in a tight game, and Sir Anthony Dominguez is your only quote. Top guy that pitches out of the pen three runs isnโt going to cut it. I mean, itโs just that simple. So I donโt mean to be flippant about it, but, and I get it, you know, Peterson, heโs a good pitcher. Heโs got a three era, you know, Iโm not saying that they went up against the scrub, but, you know, we talked about this over the weekend. I mean, look at Saturday night. I mean, they got such an impressive start from kadepovich, and they scored one run. Even Sunday, where they win, they had three hits in that game. You know, now, two of them were home runs, but they had three hits. So their offense has to pick it up. I mean, it just has to,
Nestor Aparicio 06:46
well, thatโs it. Thatโs a snapshot there. They won a game with three. Itโs two of more home runs. And thatโs what they do. They hit home runs. And, I mean, we had a team 10 years ago to hit a lot of home runs around here too, and but, but getting on base, walking, extending at bats, hitting your pitch, hitting a pitch, making contact, all of that, what, what? Donโt you like about it right now and on a night to night basis, back when it was bring Norby up, or bring holiday up, or bring Mayo up, or letโs get rid of pick your guy, Hayes, Mullins, Santander at one point and mount castle at various points. Mateo, several points. Right? So, man, weโre, weโre five and a half weeks out on the moment of truth, right? You know where theyโre going to be, where they are and have to play the way theyโre gonna have to play, whether, you know, will they get a buy or not? And itโs really weird. We keep waking up after another bad offensive night. Closer blew a game piss. Starter did okay. Middle the bullpen. They got some good news in there. But you wake up in first place. Hey, you know, and itโs like theyโre, theyโre, theyโre falling sideways, not even backward, not forward. But it does feel like the wild card thingโs catching up to the whole pack a little bit because of the losing.
Luke Jones 08:10
Yeah. I mean, you know, they fall a half game behind the Yankees because the Yankees were idle on Monday night. But you look at the standings and, I mean, we just saw a team thatโs right, theyโre vying for a wild card spot in the Boston Red Sox. I mean, thatโs what youโre looking at Seattle, who has been so mediocre for quite a long period of time. Now, you know, Kansas City has on the flip side. Theyโve really come on. I mean, donโt look now, but Kansas Cityโs in that last wild card spot. Theyโre tied with the Minnesota Twins, and they have a plus 111 run differential. I mean, thatโs thatโs a legit profile right there. The Royals are absolutely an ascending team. They kind of feel a little bit like last yearโs Orioles, not in the sense that I think theyโre going to be the number one seed, letโs be clear, but just in the sense of Theyโve really grown up quickly, and obviously wits leading the way for them. I mean, MVP caliber talent right there. But you know, theyโve got other good young players. And, you know they, they pitch pretty well. I mean, they, I think theyโre just a shade under 500 runs allowed. The Orioles are like 544 the twins are 540 you know when Iโm just looking at the wild card standings right now. So you know those, I mean, weโre not talking about teams that are juggernauts here. Weโre talking about teams that are going to be in the realm of maybe 90 wins, somewhere like that. You know, 92 wins, you know if they play, well, Iโm wondering
Nestor Aparicio 09:29
what kind of ball theyโre going to play. You know what I mean, like this next five or six weeks. If this is a real stumble there, they could get themselves, not just get themselves into trouble having to play this thing out. Theyโre going to have to play this thing play this thing out either way, but getting themselves into trouble of playing this thing out, not from that capper position of, weโre fine, weโre fine, weโre fine. There comes a point where, when the team start to catch up, and that, you know, that brought me to the Mets because, you know, itโs not like I pay attention to the National League. I mean, Iโm watching also. Things going baseball, but Iโm like the Mets, like they think they can make the playoffs, and when youโre playing these teams this time of year that think they can, or sometimes think they canโt. No, they canโt. There can be spoiler. And weโre going to have a little bit of that around Labor Day two, where youโre playing like the worst teams in the league. You look down, you say, well, thereโs six games there are they going to get five of them, four of them, six of them, you know, like, and how that math starts to add up. Because the math is this has gotten crunchy at a time where we were on cruise control most of the year, just like, weโre in, weโre in, weโre in, weโre in, weโre in, I donโt know. Man, get swept by Houston this weekend and start, and itโs a mess, you know, you like quickly. And we werenโt saying that when they were getting swept by the Cardinals. It was just, itโs June, you know, all of a sudden, everything gets a little tighter for these young players, for the fans, for sure, whoโve already dude, I should have snapshot. How many players they want benched, how many times Brandon Hyde should be fired, which is insane. I mean, just insanity stuff that Iโm glad Iโm not Rex Barney taking the phone calls anymore because, like, the fans are out on the ledge with every Sir Anthony blown save on a night when, like, we thought he was going to be, the closer weโre moving to that role, and now, all of a sudden, he moves to the well, didnโt do it on Monday night. Itโs so day to day for all of this. But this teamโs good enough, and this would be a terrible potential thing if they get into the playoffs and get bounced right away again, like and fight all this way that. I mean, Iโm trying to figure out ways they can succeed in October. And to your point, itโs the bats, and I donโt know individually Iโm going to go after rutschman, or after any of these guys, and say more and more and more. Henderson, all of them, just more and more and
Luke Jones 11:53
more. Yeah. I mean, first of all, I mean, itโs one thing for you or me to look at whatโs going to happen over the next five weeks and which series, you know, quality of the opponent, all that. I mean, they really have to get back to compartmentalizing and not worrying about that and just playing that nightโs game. I mean, itโs that simple when youโre struggling. I mean, thatโs what you have to do. I mean, and that sounds cliche, that sounds a little manager speak, but it but itโs the truth. I mean, I think if they, if theyโre thinking the same way that, like, what, how weโve talked, thatโs part of the problem, right? I mean, thatโs part of it, where you jump out to be in 20 or 24 you know, their, their high water mark was 24 games over 500 and you just, you know, youโre not consciously saying it, but if youโre thinking deep down that, you know, weโre, weโre, weโre in great shape, you know, we can kind of not cruise, but weโve got some cushion here, and they do, and thatโs not, thatโs not untrue, right? I mean, weโve been talking about that for thatโs been the story for close to two months now, but at some point in time, you got to make your move. And again, it starts with wanting to win the division, because of the format, because of the wild card round being the best of three, where you literally have a bad 27 hours and youโre done whether youโre playing at home or on the road. I mean, how easily does that happen in baseball? You know, even if youโre the best team going up against the worst team, that happens quite frequently, so you want to try to avoid that. But theyโre so banged up on the pitching side, and theyโre just not very good on the pitching side. And thatโs been the case for quite a while now. Yeah, you need Corbin burns to pick it up. Thereโs no question about that. Yeah, you need Dean Kramer to do to pitch better than he has for the bulk of the season. Because, you know, heโs been at least a league average pitcher, starter over the last couple years, has not been that this year for the most part, and has dealt with, obviously, some physical concerns. But, you know, and the bullpen, I mean, I donโt know who Iโm expecting in the bullpen to beyond the obvious, Craig Kimbrel and Gregory Soto, who do have track records of being way better than theyโve been, but youโre also in the spot of when do you pitch them to try to get them on track? You know, you have Selby, who you know, actually pitched in a you know, wasnโt high leverage on Monday night, of course, oh, especially when youโre trailing. But you know that that wasnโt mop up duty either, and he did a nice job keeping them in the game. So, but, but youโre trying to figure this out. You have, you think youโre high leverage guys and Sir Anthony Dominguez, and look, I mean, he gave up a solo home run in a tie game, right? I mean, at some point in time, someoneโs going to score. Thatโs why you need your offense to do more than three runs, you know. And one of those runs came on a bulk, by the way. So again, itโs not even that that they were mounting many threats. But, you know, they just, theyโve got to get back to play in cleaner baseball. And we didnโt even mention it tough play down the right field line for Anthony Santander in the corner there. Thatโs not an easy play. I want to be very clear about that, but it hit his glove. I mean, it actually, actually hit his bare hand, as heโs kind of bracing to hit the wall. You know, thatโs a. Play that he absolutely could have made at the very least, and that saves you a run. I mean, how many times have we talked about that? I think the defense overall has gotten has tightened up over the last couple weeks. I do think thatโs been something thatโs been better compared to where it was, say, a month ago, and weโve talked about it too much the last two months, far more than we have for a year and a half. Yeah. So again, when weโre talking about what the major problem is, which is obviously on the pitching side, with the injuries theyโve had and the guys that theyโre having to rely on right now. I mean, it is a far from full strength starting rotation and a far from full strength full pen. And yes, Iโll even throw in Felix Batista in that one. You know, I just donโt want people to dwell on that from a roster building standpoint, because theyโve known that all along that he wasnโt going to but point is, their margin for error with their pitching is so small at this point in time. So yeah, I am going to ask the offense that is much healthier and much more complete on paper anyway, to do the heavier lifting, I am going to ask the defense that, letโs face it, has been really mediocre and and even the defensive metrics, like defensive unsaved and some of those, you know, some of the stat cast metrics suggest their defense has been mediocre. Theyโve got to pick it up, because thereโs a situation right there. Again, not it wasnโt a routine pop up that Santander just dropped. Thatโs a tough play right by the wall, especially a place where you donโt play a ton of games, right? A national league ballpark. But, I mean, he absolutely could have caught that and saves you a run in that spot. A run was really important in that game, obviously. So, you know, itโs, itโs the little things, right? So, yeah, you need your offense to score more runs, and to be more productive, theyโve really had a tough run against left handed starting pitching. You know, they, you know, weโve talked about rushman, but Ryan mountcastle has to pick it up. You know, quietly here of late, Santander, now heโs, heโs continued to hit some home runs, but his overall profile the last few weeks, you know, heโs fallen off a little bit. You know that they, theyโve got guys in their lineup that they just, they need more from. They absolutely need more from. I mean, Ramon Arias has been one of their best hitters the last few weeks, which great for Ramon, especially, another one of those guys that you just mentioned a few minutes ago that was in that group that people wanted to jettison and get rid of.
Nestor Aparicio 17:18
Heโs the 27th guy on the roster, right? Yeah, but, but him is, if you take his numbers and where westburg was and put him in minus the mayo, you know, nothingness, yeah, that the productivity in that spot hasnโt dropped off as dramatically. And you know, when cows are took that pitch the other night, Iโm like, oh, man, you know, thatโs smelled like marcas to me and like, so I got the yips about all of that with these guys and getting stupid fights and, you know, like, thereโs been bad blood with Yankees and this and that, like, this next month, this is about the tightness of the ravens and Kansas City on the fifth man, Weโre gonna have a day by day roller coaster around here in a much bigger way than last year, where there was no expectation on the baseball team, and it was just they were winning, and it was fun, it was party. And how much of the playoff tickets? Oh, my God, weโve we went through that. By the way, you can go find that out of Baltimore. Positive about the Birdland memberships and stuff, but just the fans in general and what the expectation is, what the promise and the hope was, when they they had better pitching, um, you know, when this is all over with, and they donโt win the World Series, but look back, and weโll say, Dude, look what happened. Theyโre pitching the same way two, two years ago, that the last time Harbaugh talked to me at the cocktail parties like, you know, we had a lot of injuries last year, and you know, itโs hard to win with that. Your number two star, your three star, a couple guys in the bullpen, you take a bad break with an all star third baseman. And some of thatโs worked out okay. But to your point, theyโre going to win the world series based on Henderson, ruchman, maybe westburg, certainly Santander, at this point would be he can win the Home Run Derby. So, you know, these are, these are the Burns is gonna have to pitch big in October, like thatโs, thatโs the reality of all of this. And if that doesnโt happen, they donโt have to worry about Craig Campbell blowing a game for them, right? I mean, it wonโt be about that, yeah,
Luke Jones 19:22
well, I mean, think about last year. I mean, there was so much on the bullpen. You know, it was right around this time. Weโre coming up on a year from the time that Felix Bautista walked off the mound with his elbow injured, and we talked about that all through last year. And keep in mind, I mean, they were in a tight race all last year. I mean, the rate, they were right there with the rays. I mean, they were holding off the rays, but it was a game lead, a two game. But from
Nestor Aparicio 19:46
the fans perspective, was just fun to make the playoffs. I understand, but
Luke Jones 19:50
Iโm trying to focus, you know, the fans know how they want to feel like, you know, but Iโm talking about the players themselves. You know, they were in this position where their bullpen was very much a. Now their bullpen did an admirable job. Their bullpen statistically held up really well. And you know, you had guys that were kind of pitching over their heads, for lack of a better term, maybe not canoe as much, because he was better in the first half last year than he was down the stretch. But certainly Danny coulomb and CNL Perez and Jacob Webb and go down the list, you know, Tyler wells came into the picture the last 10 days of the regular season. And, you know, even closed out a game or two for them. But you, you just said it for all the focus on the bullpen. You know, the bullpen didnโt even, didnโt factor all that much in that Texas series. I mean, a little bit in game one, but, you know, they they just got blasted, and it was over, right? I mean, there were no high leverage situations late in those games. So, yeah, I mean, the bullpen is a big part of it, but they just, they have to be better across the board. And when I look at where they are across the board, their offense is much healthier, their position player, the state of their position player group is better than the state of their pitching. You know, itโs a very simple thing. And I just put this out on social media in the aftermath of Monday nightโs game, where I just said that you need more than three runs. Itโs this simple. The formula for Monday night is not my below average pitching staff pitch better than that. The formula for Monday night was my above average offense needs to play at an above average level. And they didnโt do that there. The pitching was fine in the in the collective right, you know, in the aggregate, it was fun. You know, four runs
Nestor Aparicio 21:42
on the road against the mats on, you know, take that. Iโll stop. Yeah, Iโm not doing cartwheels over it, but Iโll take it. And if I get that in game three, the ALCS, Iโm good with it, sure,
Luke Jones 21:52
yeah. I mean, yeah, I guess it depends who youโre facing at Game three, but, but yeah. I mean, any night thatโs not started right now by Corbin burns, Zach Eflin or Albert Suarez. Iโll probably say Yeah, three or four runs allowed. Iโll take that with the the assumption that I need my offense to be better. I need my offense to do what itโs capable of doing. And they just, they have too many guys in that lineup who, frankly, have just not been all that good of late. I mean, weโve talked about
Nestor Aparicio 22:24
rallies, dude, right? You know what? I mean? Like, they got three hits in a game. You get, you know, they donโt. They donโt draw a walk, get a single steal, a base hit, a double itโs three run, home run. We got three. We got to cook a number. Letโs, you know, letโs send Grayson back out there or whatever. Like not now, but I they donโt have these long, extended innings and bat around and do all of that, um, because I they donโt walk a lot, and they swing a lot, and thatโs Elias likes that profile. I mean, they didnโt like rutschman Taking pictures last year. I mean, itโs a and I see these talking points where they bring in the analytics people. I donโt know what they preach there, but I do feel like maybe the way theyโre approaching things. And you mentioned, and I wanted to bring you down on this too, because you said, I donโt care what the fans think of players. Iโm like, hold on. I speak as a fan, and Iโve been around it enough, and itโs been a little while. I didnโt mean it, but the play No, but the players feel that pressure too, that last year was just fun and fun and fun and fun, and weโre in and weโre in and weโre in. And it was that way in April and May, getting back to that fun part of baseball, where baseball is fun, and we do walk offs and we all celebrate, and we all pie the you know, Melanie after the game, and like, there have been a whole lot of that around here, and thatโs part of the joy of all of it. When the thing you you said a couple weeks ago and they were losing their pressing now, we thought, thatโs kind of like a thatโs a cliche thing. What does that mean? I think if I were to get down to the head of what that means is, I sat around the hotel all day, and we lost last night, and weโre in New York. Itโs big city, and Iโd like to go out and I got a game, and, man, we won a couple days, and it might be my turn in the ball pen tonight, or it might be, hey, Iโm starting tonight, or whatever. Like where you are and how you feel all day, and then, and then you see the standings. But one thing that feels good as a fan and as a player is when you wake up, youโre not five days behind. You know what I mean? Like, because of all of this anarchy and bad things, every error, every bad start, every injury, you still got a very, very clear path to a one seed if you hit the ball. Yeah,
Luke Jones 24:35
yeah. And again, just to when I was talking about the fans, it was, Iโm not really. My job isnโt to interpret how fans feel. My job is to look at what the clubโs doing and how the club might feel about things. And thatโs what I meant about that. I mean every things about the fan base. Every market in baseball that has a team thatโs relevant right now has that right? You overreact everything. I mean, a lot of it is we. Uh, football is our top sport in this country, and fan mentalities have really kind of, you know that that mentality is kind of thatโs been bleeding in a bartender
Nestor Aparicio 25:09
for this city for 33 years, like I and I, it fatigued me. The drunk 2am talk of fire and the manager is just not something we do around here ever. I told Whistler that Iโll tell Mr. Rubenstein, itโs not who we are, itโs not what we do. But, but there is a point for these players in this group. They know this thingโs teetering. Kimbrels in there, you know, to your point, thereโs a responsibility. When guys are booting balls and Santanderโs in the outfield feel like I should have caught that ball like all and then they lose, and it starts to stack up. And I I know how heavy that gets, and I feel the tightness as a fan every day saying this thingโs getting a little tighter than I thought it was going to be. I think itโs that way for the whole organization. And I also think Elias knows he canโt get much help here. You and I consider and talk about, whereโs the help coming from. But much like all of us, I know youโre a spiritual guy, itโs coming from within.
Luke Jones 26:07
Oh, more so, yes, but also youโre, youโre waiting on some guys to get healthy. I mean, thatโs, thatโs what it is you canโt speed up the process there. I mean, Danny columbs Throwing, Jacob Webbโs throwing, Grayson Rodriguez just played catch. You know, Jordan westburg is improving. I mean, he still has a splint. I mean, itโs a bone that has to heal, right? I mean, I think all those guys have a really good chance of being back. You know, now you get to this point in the season, any little setback could be the difference of being ready and not being ready. You know, for the last, you know, at least by the last week of September, letโs say where you know, youโd want to get all these guys at least some regular season action, but, but, yeah, theyโve got, theyโve got to step it up. Theyโve got to tighten it up. I mean, the thing I will say, you know, and especially when you use the term teetering, letโs also understand, this hasnโt been a collapse, right? I mean, they havenโt gone through a stretch where itโs been so bad, where you know that theyโve had a an eight and 20 month, right? It theyโve never had a period that bad. Itโs been and look again, since the that we kind of use the Yankee series in the Bronx back in late June as the high water mark, there are four games under 500 since then right now. Thatโs bad, but thatโs not disastrous. Thatโs not going from, you know, and I always there arenโt many teams that I can draw from, as far as the Orioles of my lifetime that were good in the middle of a season and then really bad. I think back to the 2005 Orioles. They were up to 14 games above 500 and then they were 14 below 500 before you knew it, later that summer, right? I mean, thatโs, thatโs an extreme collapse in which their manager got fired, Rafael Palmeiro gets popped for steroids. And, I mean, the cart completely, you know, just derailed. He
Nestor Aparicio 27:58
never took
Luke Jones 28:01
right? But, but the point is, I mean that that is truly an epic collapse. This team hasnโt done that. And Iโm not saying that to defend this team. Iโm just saying you still have to, as a fan, as media, as as players, looking at this, thatโs where you do have to balance the oh, well, weโre not playing as well, but, yeah, weโre
Nestor Aparicio 28:20
still okay, right? I
Luke Jones 28:21
mean, because you donโt want to, you donโt want to press, you donโt want to, thereโs a balance between feeling urgency and doing things that, where youโre just going up there trying to hit a five run homer with the bases empty, right? I mean, and weโve seen that, you know, weโve seen that from this team, and I mean that just in a general sense, you you certainly see that, not just from this team, but any team thatโs going through some struggles. I mean, thatโs just part of the game. Failure is such a big part of whatโs baked into baseball compared to other sports, and thereโs waiting around dealing with that failure. Itโs not like basketball, where you go down the floor and you miss a shot or you blow a layup, and you can get the ball the next time, the next possession, youโve got to wait your turn in the lineup. Or, if youโre a starting pitcher, you got to wait your turn in the rotation. So thereโs a lot of time to think, right? I mean, baseball is a weโve heard it, itโs a thinking manโs game, right? Itโs a conversational game. Itโs a lot of time to think and talk in between those moments of action for the individual. And you know that thatโs part of what this team just theyโre Iโm not going to sit here and play psychologists. Iโm just saying in the general sense, any baseball player, any baseball team, is going to go through some of that and you know, but a lot of this is also, and I donโt say this to be defeatist about it, because they do have some guys that are going to come back. But I also just think weโre now roughly about a fifth of a season, or not a fifth, a third of a season where theyโve been a 500 ish kind of team, right? So you are, which are you? At this. You look at the state of the pitching, Iโm not sure how much better you can expect it to be on paper. Yes. Craig Kimbrel, yes. Gregory Soto, sure. Dean Kramer being a little bit better than heโs been. Sure. Corbin burns being better than heโs been in August. Yeah, absolutely better. Theyโre going to need that, right? I mean that that, thatโs that to me, Iโm still treating more as outlier than disturbing trend, but, but you just kind of look at it and you say, yeah, it back in March. You know when we when you and I went to Sarasota and weโre taking in some spring training, if youโre telling me, come late August that Bradish is out for the year, and John means is out for the year, and Tyler Wells is out for the year, and Grayson Rodriguez is Mitch missed time, and Dean Kramer missed, what, five weeks at one point. And you know, theyโre missing Westbrook, who blossomed into an all star, but heโs missing time down the stretch. And you tell me all that, and the state of the bullpen, Iโm going to tell you, I donโt know if theyโre 73 and 53 through their first 126, so you kind of look at through, look at it through that lens, and say, you know, theyโve, yeah, theyโve been treading water for a long time at best. You know, thatโs, thatโs kind of the best way that you could describe it, the most positive way if you can describe it. But they still have managed to avoid going in the tank completely, right? And Iโm not saying that to compliment them, Iโm saying that to describe just what the state of affairs is. So, you know, you keep waiting. Youโre trying to get these guys back healthy, waiting, waiting, waiting for those guys. And, yeah, you got to win games. You know, you canโt just point to that and say, oh, woe is me. Weโre not going to win games. Thatโs why I said Monday night. Thatโs why, to me, itโs the offense. You know, I can live with your pitching staff, with it being those guys that that took the mound on Monday night, giving up four runs. You got to score more than three. I mean, you just, you have to, you know, this, this team is not built for that. You know, maybe they once were, you know, Kyle Bradish was pitching Monday night that sure three runs might have, might have done it, because Kyle Bradish is that great when heโs especially with that, but heโs not up, yeah, but heโs not out there. So youโve got to, youโve got to pick it up. Youโve got to find a way. And again, for this team, for these players, it, it truly is, got to focus on that nightโs game. And Iโm not saying that theyโre not doing that, right. I mean, sometimes you just struggle. Sometimes, again, itโs a matter of looking at the makeup of the pitching staff, and you just say, maybe theyโre not much better than what theyโve been over the last two months because of just all the attrition and some of the guys that have struggled, right? So again, weโre going to see, you know, weโre going to find out, right? Theyโre going to play every night for good or bad for bad, and weโre going to see if they can get themselves in a role. I mean, theyโre still, mathematically speaking, they are still in excellent shape, if you look at them in terms of playoff odds. You know, the division is one thing, because the the right there with the Yankees, who have their own woes, their own issues that theyโve been dealing with, and they theyโve been very mediocre since early June.
Nestor Aparicio 32:58
Fire the manager since May, too, right,
Luke Jones 33:00
right, right. So, so, you know, always not lost by any stretch of the imagination, but at the same time, yeah, youโve got to pick it up. Youโve got to find a way to get yourself on a roll here. And if you can do that, and then start getting some of these guys back by, letโs say mid September, then youโve got that intriguing upside to then say, Hmm, okay, they might not be the favorite. They might not be the team that you expect to go to the World Series in the way that last year, they were the number one seed and and had the best record and all that. But they might be in a position where, if these guys come back and look like themselves, which is a big if, you know, we donโt, especially on the pitching side. But if they do that, and they get Jordan westburg back, and get those guys a chance to at least get acclimated a little bit, then game on and see what happens in October, right? You roll the dice then. I mean it really. Iโve said this to you over and over and over, and thatโs going to become even truer this year, when thereโs no dominant team in the Al, I mean, there truly is not. If you think there is, I mean, I mean, the Orioles are right there with the Yankees, right? So, and I think we all agree, neither of those teams have been dominant for a long time, but itโs a crapshoot. It really is. So it really is a matter for me, of theyโve got to do enough. Theyโve got to take care of their business over these next, you know, this next month plus, and you hope to get those guys back, and youโll see where it stands right now. You know, Iโve heard a lot of chatter, as far as you know, Craig Kimbrell whether heโs going to be on the postseason roster. Well, if the postseason started today, youโd say no. Five weeks from now, I have no idea, Craig Kimbrell could be back on track by then. And I, you know, thatโs why you have to continue to try to pick your spot, same with Soto so. I mean, itโs, you know, Iโm hoping Corbin Burns is way better than heโs been his last couple times out. I mean, my goodness, I mean, thereโs a non starter for you if heโs not going to be Corbin burns. But you know, it really is just a matter of. Of, kind of see how this plays out. I mean, that sounds dismissive, you know, that sounds like Iโm sitting on the fence. You know, Iโve talked about this. I have major concerns about their pitching, their offense needs to be better. I think it can be on paper. It absolutely should be, but youโve got to go out and do it. So, you know, Monday was a great example of that, I get it David Petersonโs good pitcher. You know, he pitched, well, Iโm not saying I expected them to score 10 runs. Letโs be clear about that. Thereโs a middle ground here. But, well, he also ball in the
Nestor Aparicio 35:30
center field. He didnโt need to throw which pitcher Palmer off and then it cost him run, then he gave up a bomb. So like, so they got a couple, itโs kind of a Sidney ponson seventh inning is, as far as I could tell.
Luke Jones 35:41
I mean, they got a couple gifts mixed in there, right? So, I mean, even with that, even when youโre you get a couple moments of good faith, which is better than his number. Yeah, yeah. So and again, thatโs going to happen and and let me be clear, Iโm not saying the offense must score five plus every single night itโs baseball. Youโre going to have some of that so, but I think if you look at it from an, you know, just an observation standpoint, there have been too many examples of that over the last month, you know, but maybe go back to, like, the All Star break, right? I mean, I mean, since then, you know, their offense overall still hasnโt been bad statistically. And Iโll continue to say that, because Iโm the numbers guy, but it has been choppier. And again, this Boston series we talked about, I mean, the one night where they scored a bunch of runs, cordon Burns has the worst start of his career. So sometimes you just look at it and say, Man, theyโre just, theyโre just not, they canโt get themselves going. Every time it feels like theyโre starting to get on a roll, they take another step back. And thatโs, itโs really been the story since late June,
Nestor Aparicio 36:42
again, being in a rut and being in first place. Well, thatโs,
Luke Jones 36:47
thatโs the power, yeah, half game out, right? But right there. I mean, for lack of, I mean, theyโre right there with the Yankees. So, I mean, itโs, itโs amazing how
Nestor Aparicio 36:56
many times they have lost and woken up the next day in first place, though, yeah, you know, like, when youโre like, theyโre in freefall and but the the other part of Kansas City, these other teams coming, weโll see. Weโll see the Mets the next couple days as well. Lukeโs going to see the Astros and the Chesterโs all weekend. The ravens are going to get to see just how lovely green bay is in August. Theyโre going to be there scrimmaging and then playing. This week, Iโm actually doing some Milwaukee radio. They still think Iโm a media member in Milwaukee, Iโll have to tell Doug Russell Iโm not a real media member. Iโll tell him where my podcast is. Luke can be found at Baltimore Luke and he can also be found in Camden Yards and in Owings Mills as well as it faintlys On Friday, weโre going to have the Maryland lottery, gold rush, sevens, doublers. Got a stack of these? Come down and grab them on Friday. Grab yourself crab cakes and shrimp salad before salad before the game, we have some good guests, Matt kosters coming down from the Baltimore firefighters. Good talks, firefighters issues and unions. And one of my neighbors were firefighters in Dundalk, several of them in City firefighters as well. So Iโll honor them this week, and we get a lot of great conversations, two senators, three congressmen, three county executives and a opioid czar sitting in a pear tree. Emily Keller deserves better than that. Former Mayor of Hagerstown joined us. The mayor of Frederick is with us. This week, weโve had cybersecurity conversations this week, lots of good stuff. Luke and Iโve been talking football, baseball. We got some great guests coming up as well. Ian OโConnor came on to talk about his book on Aaron Rodgers, which I wasnโt Iโm still not interested in Aaron Rodgers, even though I might be wearing packers colors here right now, Mel guapo shirt, but he did make a fascinating conversation. So make sure youโre checking that out. Heโs Luke, Iโm Nestor. Weโre wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, we never stop talking Baltimore positive.