Luke Jones and Nestor discuss Dean Kremer and Orioles starting pitching deficiencies
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
orioles, year, trade, cubs, won, point, prospects, team, give, mayo, tuesday night, kobe, deal, baseball, bullpen, starter, week, great, baltimore, bat
SPEAKERS
Nestor J. Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home we are W n s t, Towson, Baltimore. Baltimore positive happy summer week to you Happy homestand to you and it’d be happy crabcake tour on Friday as the Yankees come to town they will be in second place at least for now the Maryland lottery giving us the Gold Rush sevens doublers to give away we’ve had some lucky wins had a $20 winner about two weeks ago Coco’s we will be at fate. Lee’s all afternoon on Friday all hands on deck as the Yankees are in town. Our friends at Liberty pure solutions, keeping the water crystal clear in my orange colored glass. Make sure you’re checking them out if you have a well or you well, you have any plumbing needs at Liberty care solutions, as well as Jiffy Lube, multi care, keeping us out on the road driving us home, driving Luke to the ballpark home from the ballpark. You know you and I asked a pretty poignant question. We did a lot of chatting on Monday about the Orioles and the trading deadline and an all star game and the Yankees but the pitching in it was always the pitching and you and I said Who do you trust who do you trust? I do not trust the and Kramer I think I mentioned that on on Monday morning. When we got going bright and early and it took a day off they went after Tuesday night. You know what do they say you’re the weakest link or whatever it is but if he were out there throwing the ball like race and Rodriguez we wouldn’t be so concerned about having to give up mayo or curse dad or cow whoever we’re gonna give up to get whatever pitching we’re gonna get and by the way, talk to all the Chicago people this week the crochet things on their on their mind as well.
Luke Jones 01:34
Yeah, well, and I think it when you say you don’t trust in Kramer, it’s to do what I mean over the course of now two and a half years, he’s been about a league average starting pitcher, which is still valuable, mind you that you still need guys to fill out the back end of your rotation. So through that lens, I’m fine with Dean Kramer. But if you’re asking me about Dean Kramer starting game three of a postseason series, and yeah, that’s a completely different conversation and people will bring up Texas last October and that’s fine. I think. I mean, even last October going into it the Orioles were probably hoping John means was going to start game three and then his elbow started barking again. So I think it’s just where they are right now. I don’t think it’s necessarily to be hasty in saying Oh, Dean Kramer is going to the bullpen or something like that. Now, I mean, he has to be better than he was on Tuesday night clearly. But at the same time, he’s someone who’s been a league average starter over the course of the last two and a half years. And that’s still valuable when you’re talking about your number four or especially your number five starter spot. But yeah, league average on Tuesday night. It was not y’all it was a point. Yeah, right. Right, of course. And I think Tuesday night was a weird game, too. I mean, it wasn’t as though he got crushed me gives up the two big homeruns. And obviously to have three run homer turning the game lopsided. In the fourth, he’s ahead oh two, I even asked him about the pitch that he made. Oh, he’s had some success going low and away, he tries to come up in in with a cutter didn’t come up in in enough and have got the bat on the ball and hit it on to Utah street. So
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:09
he missed a spot. So when he misses spots, he pays right period. Yeah. And
Luke Jones 03:13
I think you know, the difference between what we saw and Dean Kramer on Tuesday night compared to Seattle stuff wasn’t quite as lively, you know, wasn’t missing as many bats. And we’ve talked about this. Look, I know old school. baseball fans will continue to say that, not continue. But we’ll continue to maintain that strikeouts aren’t everything. And they’re not I’m not saying they’re everything. But they are really important. And it is a case of if you can’t miss bats. Boy, you can’t miss your spots at all. You know, when you have the ability to get swing and miss sometimes you can be wild within the strikes. And I mean, Grayson Rodriguez is a great example of that. Corbin burns, great example that not saying that they’re wild in the strike zone frequently, but they can get away with it much more because they have that swing and miss ability that they do. When you don’t have as impressive stuff. Then your margin for error is a very small, I’ve talked about that a lot with Kate Povich. And I think that’s been evident with him for as much as he had to swing and miss stuff against Atlanta last month in his second major league start that hasn’t been there otherwise. And it’s resulted in him having a much lower ceiling and a much smaller margin for error. So on Tuesday night, you know, Dean Kramer didn’t have as good of a fastball didn’t have as much swing and miss and the Cubs made him pay for it. And also, I’ll also point out a couple lapses defensively and had a couple walks and I hit by pitch and you know, you can’t do those things. So it wasn’t a ton of hard contact other than those two home runs. But those two home runs obviously cost him dearly and was a big reason why he won. He lasted only four innings and two of the Oreos loss although I’ll also point out didn’t exactly mount much offensive Jameis and tie on and that cubs bullpen? Well,
Nestor J. Aparicio 05:02
he’s probably, you know, as good as they get right. He might be a guy that I said to my wife, watch us get up in our rotation in three weeks. You know, every time I have somebody on I had a great conversation in Chicago, Rick telander you know, legendary columnist from Sports Illustrated in Chicago, and also had on my old Sporting News, radio executive producer. And, you know, in in both cases, I’m like, Who are we fleecing, Northside or Southside we who we got in at this point? And I think that that, as this month goes on as the all star break, we’ll have fun with Gunnar Henderson next week and who wins? Who Cares all that kind of stuff. But there is some decorated prime by the way, Jordan Westbrook to the Australian let’s talk about that for a minute. We’ll come back to pitching because we did speak about snapping and snapping and all that and you know, I’m not convinced Kimberly’s not gonna get there yet for it’s all over it because of the way this thing subs out. But um, you know, it gave me pause to go back and look at his numbers. He might be able to better year than rutschman. And I think highly of rutschman. Yeah,
Luke Jones 06:06
I mean, I, I would put rutschman ahead of him.
Nestor J. Aparicio 06:10
Second baseman though like to some degree, right? Oh, sure. Sure.
Luke Jones 06:14
Well, secondary slash third base. I mean, either way, and that’s what’s been so valuable about him is he can play either of those spots and better than Floyd Rayford. I
Nestor J. Aparicio 06:21
want to point that out. Sure. Sure. I
Luke Jones 06:23
mean, he’s been a plus defender at third. I don’t think his defense has been quite as good at second base as it’s been at third base, but it’s been fine. It’s not a problem. Right. And you mentioned to Reese Bruton the ball the other night, too. Sure. Well, and that’s part of the point I was kind of alluding to early in the year when a Reus wasn’t hitting it all. And Jackson Holliday struggles get sent back down. They got in a position where Westberg was playing plus defense and giving you plus plus offense at third base. And Matteo was hitting now since then Matteo has really fallen off over the last month. And you know, a Reyes has been better with the bat than he was saying April in early May, but still not great. And even his defense, you know, you hear them talk about him being a former Gold Glove defender at third base. He hasn’t played like it this year. I’ll be not playing on an everyday basis and all that but Westbrook’s versatility has just been so valuable. And when you have someone who can play multiple spots in the infield as a starter, you know, we’re not talking about a utility guy. This is, you know, super utility, if you want to call it that, but his bets in the lineup every day because, I mean, he’s been up 838 40 OAPs kind of hitter hit for power hit a homerun on Tuesday night, you know, kind of a
Nestor J. Aparicio 07:40
show Morgan a third base. He might be Scott rollin, but either way they have Jackson holiday coming up. He’s a third baseman, right? Like as much as we’ll talk about him next week as a swing guy. Be like Bobby Grich you’ll forget that he ever played the position at some point. Right?
Luke Jones 07:52
Well, and that’s what’s so interesting because you have Jackson Holliday is gonna play second Kobe may have still playing primarily at third, although I still think Kobe mayo, assuming he’s in Baltimore, which I’m not at all convinced that the Orioles are going to trade him, you know, unless it’s for the right package. As I said, they’re not paying Lamborghini Lamborghini prices for a minivan or, you know, anything like that. I mean, he feels
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:14
untouchable unless we’re getting like another Grayson Rodriguez.
Luke Jones 08:17
I mean, I feel like someone like him, if suddenly the tiger say Terex, Google’s available. Okay, you know, I might be willing to part with Kobe mayo, then it’s a short list. I mean, we’re not the thing we need to remember. And I’ll get back to Westbrook in just a moment. But Jackson Holliday, Kobe mayo, Samuel besides at double A buoy doing what he’s doing as a catcher at buoy at his age. These are really special prospects. They’re, they’re all prospects, right prospects or suspects until they prove it at the major league level. But these are highly, really highly touted prospects. This isn’t Kent Sisk, Cisco six, six years ago, or Hunter Harvey’s eight years ago, right? I mean, these are premium premium kind of guys. So the point with with that is, if you’re going to try them, you better be getting premium premium in return. And that’s why going back to our conversation a couple of days ago, with Dean Kramer being in that mix. If you ask me right now who the Orioles are most likely to acquire as a starting pitcher, I’m guessing at someone that’s going to be closer to Dean Kramer’s talent level than Kyle Bradish when he’s healthy, so my point and that doesn’t mean they’re not going to get someone better than Kramer. But my point you don’t
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:32
want to give up Kobe may have for League average. Yeah, exactly. or slightly above league average like Kobe. Look at Jack Flaherty last year. We thought he could be as good as Dean Kramer We thought he’d be better than better. That’s why they brought him in. Right, exactly.
Luke Jones 09:47
And it doesn’t always work out that way. That doesn’t mean you don’t make trades, but it means you need to tread carefully. These are premium assets. That could be really, really important to maybe even later this year. I mean it still love to see Kobe Mayo’s bat in this lineup in 2024. I think there’s a place to do it. And that’s why I’ve even talked about, you know, you get creative. Is there a team out there that is going to buy and sell where, you know, there might be someone moved from the Major League roster and suddenly that opens up an opportunity for a Kobe Mayo but bringing it back to Jordan Westberg because that’s what you brought up. I mean, great to see him make it I think he was very deserving of a spot we talked about this the other day. Third base is crowded in the in the American League. I mean, yeah, Jose Ramirez, Raphael Devers, who ultimately is the one bowing out because he’s been dealing with, I think, a sore left shoulder since April. So he’s just going to rescue me the Red Sox don’t look good. They come. Look now but I mean, they’re right on the Yankees heels at this point. You know, I’m still not convinced the Red Sox are going to be that team that’s contesting for 100 wins. But they’re certainly in the wildcard makes me firmly firmly in the wildcard mix and they can certainly make noise and considering the Yankees have been the worst team in baseball over the last three weeks record wise. I mean, yeah, the rights. The Red Sox are right, the rearview mirror for them and the Orioles certainly can’t sleep on them. So but Deborah’s bows out, we talked about an E sock parade ease was the res lone representative. And, you know, I mean, so third base, it wasn’t so much that there was warranted outrage for Westbrook not to make it as a third baseman, but because of that versatility. You look at someone like Marcus Simeon who made it at second base, and you say, well, Westbrook is having a better year than him. So good to see him make it to your point, I still would not be shocked if Craig Kimbrel wyms winds up on that roster. But the Orioles now represented represented by four All Star selections in Arlington next week. Great story, but I mean, Jordan Westberg. Think about where he’s only, or what a year and a couple of weeks past his major league debut, and he was solid last year. But it was unspectacular. It wasn’t oh my gosh, this kid is amazing. It was he’s holding his own, you know, he’s solid. He’s looking like a guy who’s going to be a starter. But at this time last year, or even last September and October, if someone told you he was gonna be an all star, you’d say, Wow, man, he’s taken a heck of a jump then in his first major league season, four major league season. And he’s certainly done that. I mean, he’s been as consistent as possible. And you could really tell I’ll be it after the nine to loss on Tuesday night, we had a chance to talk to him in the clubhouse. He’s a quiet guy. He doesn’t say a whole lot, you know, isn’t necessarily going to entertain you in an interview, but he will offer some insight and you could just tell he was really humbled by that experience. And I think he had Yeah, was he a snob? I mean, you know how I feel about that word being overused when it comes to all stars, but he was certainly deserving of going so it was good to see him get that nod and of all, they’re all stars. Even though it’d be Gunnar Henderson’s first All Star game as well and gunners going to get so much attention. We’ve known since probably late April that Gunnar Henderson was gonna go to the All Star game. I mean, he was just off to that kind of an unbelievable start on the heels of being rookie of the year but with Jordan Westberg, the half the first half that he’s had the improvement he’s made from his rookie year to his first full year in the major leagues. I mean, you said it right off the bat and bringing him up. I still think it’s Gunnar Henderson Adley rutschman, as far as one two as far as the best position players on this team, but Jordan Westbrook has been a very clear obvious, no doubt about number three in terms of their best position players and yeah, I think you can make there’s certainly some debate you could make it probably a month ago, I want to put him ahead of Adley rutschman. Now, if he’s third, that’s still speaking to how just how impressive he’s been how valuable he’s been for this Oreos offense,
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:59
alright with the cubs in town, and he talking about fleecing the Cubs and fleecing the White Sox. And who are we going to take from them? Who are other teams gonna take from them because they’re gonna deal with somebody and I think that’s the sort of the beauty of the system is that the Oreos are at the top they have a lot of talent but you know, you mentioned the Red Sox and other teams who will be willing to put together a package for school or for crocheter for whomever and who’s going to be able to deal from any level of Kobe Mayo facility or wherever that that depth is that the tiger said we want to catch her in the deal you’re not getting rutschman So all that being said the Cubs and talking to cubs people and talking to Chicago people this week. I don’t put you on the spot but you’re you’re pretty Savanti bet based but What year do they won the World Series?
Luke Jones 14:50
They won in what 2016 16
Nestor J. Aparicio 14:52
I thought it was 17 by the way if I if you were to ask me flat out because I want to see Pearl Jam a couple times. I really feel that summer and Eddie Vetter. If you see The film, they want the they wrote the Cubs song that year all that but was 16. Just eight years ago, I get this mixed up with them, with the capitals to the capitals were 17. Right. So like I’m trying to hear after your and the nationals were 19 Going into the strike. So I get yours, especially with the NBA and the NHL, but they’re sort of interchangeable for me when the Cubs won in 16. And you and I were a decade into our relationship with you and I’ve been at this a long time. We sat here and talked about those World Series games as they happen. Those players the Orioles, were sort of at the end at that point, by the time they had won. You would have thought the Cubs would have had another crack, right? Or a couple of cracks. They certainly they came in, and it wouldn’t be like the Orioles winning this year. They’re all young enough that you think all right, we’re gonna have more chance to this. And on the backside of Kansas City. We’re in Kansas City 115 1415 They were in the World Series San Francisco was in and out all those years. You looked at Misaki she looked at Hosmer you looked at all those guys that when they’re close to their number and who are we going to sign to give Hosmer the money who’s the guy we’re going to keep who’s our Gunnar Henderson that’s going to be our our franchise player. And Peter pick Chris Davis here so and let Machado go away. So as far as bad decisions are it is what it is. The cubs never want again. And as I talked to these people in Chicago and the cubs are owed back to being the Cubs again back to me in last place back to Lee Illya back to we don’t have the kind of prospects and Theo doesn’t want to come and Joe Maddon is not here, we don’t have geniuses and we don’t have you know big three at the top of our rotation anymore. It’s really painted for me how fleeting all this can be. Especially when you’re competing with the Red Sox and the Yankees in our division two, we’re always going to have resources to steal your best player if you let them because they can afford it. And the Cubs window being so short is telling threatening frightening, worrisome for this trading deadline and your philosophy of we’ve got a long bench and a long runway of all these young players. And if we give too much away we won’t have that runway two or three years from now and will be a diminished franchise on the face of it. If you take three of these prospects away you take bacilli away take away Mayo take away I don’t know curse that cows pick anybody you want. They’re all they’re all darts at this point right cows look like he was going to the Hall of Fame now it looks like you know he might be Joe Charbonneau for all we know right? Like who knows the Cubs window and how good that franchise was and where it came on. And the geniuses associated with that. They won once it was fun they all got drunk they’re still hungover Harry Carey came back to life and got drunk and still hungover I’m just saying it happens very very quickly and that’s my warning for the Orioles is saying can’t wait cuz I put up Kansas City all the time they want they went back in the hole. I don’t know how this is gonna go and I know you deep down you don’t talk much about the owner because you still have a credential I let me do all that talking but I think the concern is this guy’s not long term. This guy isn’t even held a press conference guys not even live here. This guy is trying to win here and now he’s 74 years old. He’s running around like Tom Benson with a with an umbrella thrown out hats telling the Son How much fun he’s having. And all that might be more fun than sitting on Squawk Box last week being asked who he’s pitching for President which he declined. So I would just say the here and now of this owner, their money this team, the prospects the value of the prospects and Elias knows better than anybody and allies there’s been anybody whether he’s gonna be here three years from now or not, and whether this is a long term situation for him or whether he’s like, Hey, dude, I get Corbin burns right now I got three guys getting cuddle four guys getting caught on throw Batista and they’re like, We’re gonna win now.
19:05
We’re gonna win now
Nestor J. Aparicio 19:06
that mean a real urgency. So I put that to you. I gave you both sides they gave you you know point counterpoint when now? Oh, no, no, no, we got a long runway. We can’t give these guys up. Because two, three years now we’re gonna want another shot. We’re gonna want another chance at this knot. We’re all in right now. And there’s all sorts of schools of thought for you know, all of these teams that think they’re gonna win the World Series. And to your point. It wants to be in Texas in Arizona that nobody on July 10 of last year would have given a bag of doughnuts to
Luke Jones 19:36
Yeah, and I’m glad you made that last point. Because look, you can say you’re all in all you want. You can go make six trades at the trade deadline. They don’t give you the World Series trophy on August first after you do that. I mean, they don’t. That doesn’t mean you don’t make trades. It doesn’t mean you don’t seek out opportunities. I fully expect them that a starting pitcher. I fully expect them to add some bullpen help. Do I think that that we’re gonna be sitting here on August 5. Oh, a week after that all you know all that dust settles, and I’m going to tell you that I guarantee you they’re gonna win the World Series. I’m not gonna say that, because that’s not how this works. Now, I’ll say this again, there’s a wide range here. You can say you’re not going to Trey Jackson holiday, Kobe mayo. Samuel besides. And by the way, you still have a ton of prospects. You can deal they have a lot of other guys we’ve seen guys, Connor Norby, to your point Colton Couser would be in that conversation has been cursed dad would be in that conversation when I say that. That doesn’t mean they’re moving all of them. The point is they have a wide net of guys that range from generational prospect like Jackson Holliday, on the way down took all the way down to Connor Norby or guys that are at some lower levels that aren’t necessarily in the daily discourse of fans talking about the system, but they have guys throughout their system that are highly regarded. I mean, you go to the Orioles top 30 prospect list on mlb.com. And you see those guys that are ranked eight through 20. I mean, those are guys, that would be premier guys and other team systems, right? I mean, those will be guys that other teams would come in and say, Hey, we can help as he gives him some a guy we’ve never heard off, right. Yeah. And look, there’s probably going to be some of those guys mixed in. But, uh, you know, the counter to what you said about the Cubs, I would also say, well, the Cubs made the playoffs, five out of six years, you know, they gave themselves a six year window where they were highly competitive, right? I mean, they’ve won.
Nestor J. Aparicio 21:34
Well, the Nationals could have been in three World Series, and they got in the one and they won, right, like Sure. They were good. That is the window. Right? You’re getting on to the World Series last year.
Luke Jones 21:42
Yeah, look it again, you can’t trade your way into a World Series. And what I mean by that is, you could do all these make all these deals and, and have the ken Rosenthal’s and the Jeff Passons of the world on August 1, praising you for all that you did. And you can still lose the short series and the divisional round. I mean, that’s just trying to train
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:02
yourself into a good game three starter. That’s really what. Sure And
Luke Jones 22:07
that’s why, but I’ve also talked a lot about the bullpen and saying, Look, I love Corbin burns, I love Grayson Rodriguez, I’ll take that one two punch going up against just about anyone in baseball. You know, I think that’s really compelling. Game three, obviously, is another story. But there are other teams in baseball other contenders in baseball, where they’re not gonna feel as good as about their game three in game for starters. I mean, that’s how this works. And I’ll say, and this is why I’ll come back to the bullpen. How many of those game three and four starters even on rotations that you feel are deeper than the Orioles? How many of those guys are going to be guys that navigate a lineup and a postseason game? Three times. That’s you’re talking about a short list of starting pitchers in this day and age, we’re going to do that. So my point is you want to back for the sixth inning. Right? You
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:52
better have that? Right?
Luke Jones 22:53
You better have four guys in your bullpen that you feel really strongly about that you have conviction about where you can use them in just about any spot. Yeah, you’re gonna have your closer Yeah, you’re gonna have your primary eighth inning guy whoever that’s going to be for the Orioles because the eighth inning right now who knows? Is it Jacob Webb? Is it younger? No. I mean, it’s kind of depends. Certainly not the same conviction that you had last year. At this time for you and your kin. No, although, you know, it feels like he’s starting to bounce back a little bit again after some struggles but
Nestor J. Aparicio 23:21
checkmate Joe Flacco and to say they went a lot of games around here. They don’t do a lot of games. Now, yeah. And, and again, this kind of goes
Luke Jones 23:29
back to the big picture, the 30,000 foot look all along has been helped fans and even meet media have perceived this team. You know, Kyle Bradish, made what eight starts nine starts, John means made four starts Tyler wells made three starts mean, this team’s gotten to this point, not because of what those guys have done. It’s been because of obviously burns and Rodriguez a lot. But the point is, other guys have stepped up and pitched well. They’ve had a higher floor than anyone would have thought when it comes to both their rotation and their bullpen. But that said, you need ceiling for October, you need shut down elite kind of arms coming out of the back end of that bullpen. And that’s why I’ve said yeah, a number three starters. Great. I I’m not disagreeing with that. But at the same time, you know, let’s not get caught up in romanticizing Jack Morris of 35 years ago, understanding that those performances you don’t see in October anymore. I mean, it’s rare. I mean, even the best of the best or maybe going seven innings in a postseason game. So you need bullpen arms. So that’s why I’ll continue to bang the table as that being an even bigger priority for me, then number three starter number four starter in the postseason. Which again, yes, upgrade, yes. Stabilize? Yes. You want to certainly fortify this rotation. For one. You don’t know if someone’s going to tweak a hamstring trying to cover first base or something like that. I mean, there’s no guarantee See that you’re out of the woods in terms of health concerns. So you certainly want to fortify but they got
Nestor J. Aparicio 25:06
worked out the pitching is an issue here, that short pitching just that a general sense. If you’re saying what their issue is in a sentence depth of pitching,
Luke Jones 25:13
here’s the problem. Depth of pitching is an issue everywhere. So the point is now, other contenders, and then you get into wildcard race where? I mean, you even mentioned the Cubs. And look, I don’t think the cubs are gonna be buyers. Don’t get me wrong. But the cubs are four and a half games out of the last wildcard spot. I mean, that just speaks to how muddy the waters are, in terms of cake. Who exactly is buying? Who exactly selling, that’s where I think I’ll continue to come back to this. And some people will listen to this and think I’m crazy. I still think there’s a potential for a deal that involves Major League talent. And it might be the Orioles deal someone from their roster, in addition to some prospects to go get some pitching. And I don’t know if that might open up everyday playing time for a Kobe male or at that point, you’re saying, okay, Jackson holidays coming back. And, you know, they’re not that there wouldn’t be a path for him right now. But the point is, there are a lot of different ways this can go I, I’ve seen numerous reports and speculate and lots of speculation about someone like Tampa Bay, who, I’m not a believer in the rays whatsoever. But, you know, they’re still kind of sort of not out of the wildcard race. We’ve seen some teams in the last couple of years, even be buyers and sellers, where they might sell off a couple of veteran players, but they might go add something else. So I just think with the Orioles with all the assets that they have, and again, ownership and payroll expectations and all that being the wildcard here. There are a lot of possibilities for as far as what the Orioles could do. And that’s where I look at the big picture and come back to what we talked about originally, which was the premium of the premium prospects. And I look at someone like Kobe mayo, and say, okay, yeah, he would be an amazing piece to trade for an elite pitcher that may or may not be available out there. But at the same time, I look at some of the guys that have been in Baltimore for four or five years now, like a Ryan mountcastle, for example, when I think we know what mountcastle is, at this point. He’s up and down when he’s hot, you love him when when he’s not hot. He’s baton seventh in your order, as we saw the other night. So that’s not a knock on him. But he’s also got, what two more years of club control? Do you really want to be in a position where you’re trading Kobe Mayo when he could be your first baseman of the future? And, look, he could be your first baseman of the very near future. So I’m not saying that as jumping on the table saying you must trade Ryan mountcastle Today, either. But the point is, there are a lot of different combinations, a lot of different possibilities to go out and make trades. That’s why, you know, even if you say we’re not trading holiday, we’re not trading Besides, we’re not trading mail. That’s fine. You still have a dozen other guys in your system that I think would still be very appealing in the right combination of you know, in a trade package. So you
Nestor J. Aparicio 28:10
mentioned Tampa like a lot. We’ll see we’ll indivision there’ll be if they love Conor Norby and they love a player, and they’re gonna get that player out of that. I don’t I think that’s going away a little bit a little bit.
Luke Jones 28:22
It should I mean, it should. I’ve said this over and over. We’ve talked about this a lot, even talking about football. Where, look, if you have a trade partner in the division, don’t get me wrong. I’ll view that as the tiebreaker for not wanting to make a deal. But if one of your division rivals is offering up the best deal, shame on you, if you’re not going to take it,
Nestor J. Aparicio 28:44
right. Imagine queen had no problem
28:46
taking the Steelers money. Exactly. Well, sure. Sure. It wasn’t exactly what I was going for. But the point you know what
Nestor J. Aparicio 28:51
there’s a thought with the Ravens have traded him to the Steelers, they probably would have tried to trade him elsewhere in the same way row, Quan Smith and get traded through the Packers.
Luke Jones 28:59
Sure, sure, sure. But at the same time, if if you have a trade possibility, and the Steelers offer up the best deal, then I don’t think you should take an inferior deal just because of that. So you know, there’s nuance with that. I mean, I’ll tell you the team that I think is way more interesting in terms of in the division. What about the Toronto Blue Jays? I mean, look at some of those pitchers who get it they’re not all having great years. But there’s some guys that in recent history have pitch really, really well. And, you know, that’s a team that I don’t think is tearing it down entirely and going into a full rebuild, but they certainly need to do some retooling. So, I think well, they’re
Nestor J. Aparicio 29:41
stars didn’t make it right. I mean, you know, their stars haven’t been what rutschman and understand a bit.
Luke Jones 29:48
Yeah, but at the same time, you know, look at someone who pitched on Tuesday night now they lost out in San Francisco Tuesday. But Kikuchi, left handed, he went seven and a third innings struck out 30 mean, I mean, Miss bats his season era is for it’s not tremendous. But if you’re looking for upside, if you’re looking for someone to get on a roll, if you’re looking for someone who has a track record, yeah. Is there a deal to be made for someone like him? Even within the division? So, look, we could talk about 15 different teams right now the Orioles could potentially trade with, but it’s still complicated because you have so many of these teams where you just keep saying, Are they buyer’s or seller’s? I mean, you know, the rangers who even I had left for dead probably talking to talking about them two days, two or three days ago, you know, they’ve won five in a row. They’re still 44 and 48 are still way back for a wildcard spot. I still think they probably wise, at this point, they’re probably wise to be sellers, especially with some of the expiring contracts. They haven’t some of the veteran players they have. So but they keep winning. And we’ve talked about Seattle coming back to Earth and not not being able to swing the bats. I mean, yeah, they might say, Hey, we’re not giving up on this yet. So, point is, we still have what, just under three weeks to go until the trade deadline. Michael is is working the phones, they’ve been working the phones they’ve been talking to team. Well,
Nestor J. Aparicio 31:10
it’s an important couple of weeks of baseball to it general sense for who wins and who loses the next week. I mean, cubs lose a couple of games here, they win Tuesday night, but if they lost some games, they’d be much more capable of being a trading partner. So watching baseball, the next two or three weeks, you’ll get a vibe for who’s in and who’s out. Yeah,
Luke Jones 31:28
I mean, weren’t the angels the prime example of that last last July? I mean, think about it. Everyone was talking about Oh, okay. Well, you know, Otani is going to be a free agent, you got to trade him and they say, No, we’re not trading Shohei Otani. In fact, we’re gonna make a run at this and they went out made moves, it was a disaster. They completely fell apart. And they ended up losing Otani anyway, and what few assets they had in their system, they traded away. So, you know, you’re gonna have teams that do smart things, you’re gonna have teams that do dumb things, you’re gonna have teams that buy when they
Nestor J. Aparicio 32:01
should. So you also have general managers and managers, we have to win or veteran players, or teams of players on contracts and saying, we’re more all in right now. I mean, Red Sox fans are beating on them about like, not quitting and staying in. And there’s pressure and a lot of those points. I wouldn’t think Texas is one of those places, because they’ve won. You, Houston. It’s such an awful start. Now they’re in it. They’re just in it. Kansas City’s in it for the first time in a long time. Right. So you got the teams like Milwaukee, who dealt there number one Delta Cy Young winner, and they’re still winning the division. Yeah.
Luke Jones 32:36
And then you have a team like the Orioles two years ago, who in July, they were in wildcard contention. Even if you didn’t believe they were going to do it mathematically. They were absolutely in the mix. And what did they do? They traded Trey man CD, which was not unexpected, but was unpopular at the time. And they traded Jorge Lopez who even guys like me, you fancy ourselves for thinking that we’re a little smart about baseball. We’re kind of wondering about it. Well, two years later, Trey man Seanie is out of baseball. I mean, think about that out of baseball. And Jorge Lopez, last time we saw him was melting down with the Madsen was an absolute fiasco. So not to say that the Orioles have an abundance of players from those two trades that are helping them immediately. But your Canola is help them and help them a lot over the last calendar year. And you know what we’ll see about Kate Povich, we’ll see about Chase McDermott, who very much could be in the mix at least as a bullpen option for them maybe later in the season. So you make those trades at that point in time, and was unpopular at that point in time. In fact, if you remember, Mike Elias flew down to I think it was Arlington, you know, at the trade deadline to kind of talk to the team and say, Hey, this is what’s happening here, guys, this isn’t don’t think that this is just much at the same. You know, we made a couple of deals here, a couple of difficult decisions here that might hurt us a little bit right now. But we think we’re going to be in a really, really good spot in the very near future. And lo and behold, Mike Elias was right at that point in time those trades were the right moves at those points. Those trades were never looked backs, like, but but at the time that it didn’t feel that way, though, right at the time, it felt like Man, these guys have finally turned the corner and your trading tray man Seanie. And your trading Jorge Lopez, who even has some more club control, and look, those ended up being the right decision. So you know, you have to, you’re always balancing the here and now with the big picture. And again, I want to see the Orioles make some moves. I think they’re going to make some moves. I fully expect him to make some moves at the same time. I think we should know by now. Five, six years into the mike Elias era. He’s not going to burn down the farm system just to try to what would amount to incrementally marginally try to improve your chances to win in October this year. There’s always a balance of right now with the big picture and Look, they’re gonna add a starting pitcher. They’re gonna add some bullpen arms. But to your point that you made five minutes ago, you know, Jack Flaherty at that point in time. You know, they were hoping that that was going to be, and I’m better than that. Yeah. You hope you do better than that at the same time. The other thing you talked about this the other day, just the risk in general, you can go out and acquire some starter that you feel great about. And then guess what happens? Three starts into it, his elbow sore. I mean, there’s so much unpredictability here. There is so much variance there is so much unknown, and that you can’t let that paralyze you to the point where you don’t make any moves. But at the same time, I’ll continue to say if we’re talking about the Orioles still playing baseball on October 24. I’m guessing it’s gonna be a heck of a lot more about Corbin burns, Grayson Rodriguez, Gunnar Henderson, Adley, rutschman, Jordan Westberg, then players A B and C they acquire at the trade deadline. And that’s look that’s that’s a captain obvious statement when you’re talking about all stars and above average talent that I just rattled off there. But look who’s healthy. Who gets hot at the right time? Texas? You said it. Texas and Arizona at this time last year? No, maybe the rangers to a lesser extent because the Rangers they play good baseball but especially Arizona, no one, no one was talking about them, making it an October run at this time last year. And you see what happened. So you know, there’s there’s still way more luck, way more variants involved in all this than any of us care to admit. That’s why first and foremost, you just want to get in and anything else you want to say about the Orioles pitching and all that that’s that’s fine, but they’re going to be in the playoffs. So at the very least they have that going for them. And that’s why I said you this trade deadline not as something that’s great angst or great concern. It’s a great opportunity because this is already a heck of a baseball team. And they have an opportunity here to make it even better and that’s what’s exciting.
Nestor J. Aparicio 37:01
Luke Jones will be at the ballpark tonight. You’ll be there this weekend. The Yankees in town will be together on Friday at fayed Lee’s at the new Lexington market. I’ll have the Gold Rush sevens doublers to give away from the Maryland lottery our friends at Jiffy Lube and liberty peer solutions putting us out on the road. The oyster tour is coming together in my mind. Football season’s coming together in Luke’s mind but he’s on vacation next week and we have an all star game coming up lots and lots of cool stuff going on at Baltimore positive.com as well as in our social media space. I am Mr. He is loop we are wn st am 1570, Towson Baltimore. And we never stop talking Baltimore positive
