We’re all looking for answers after a hideous sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees in the Bronx. The Baltimore Orioles’ new ownership can’t like what it’s seeing on the field from the 2026 squad because none of us do. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the future of franchise with Mike Elias at the helm after an embarrassing weekend of baseball at Yankee Stadium for the Birds.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Orioles’ recent performance and future outlook after a sweep by the Yankees. They highlighted the team’s struggles, including a 12-1 loss and a 50-15 run differential since Aparicio’s last game attendance. Jones criticized the team’s poor defense, pitching, and underperforming stars like Gunnar Henderson and Pete Alonso. They debated the need for organizational changes, including potential roster moves and accountability from manager Craig Albernaz and GM Mike Elias. Aparicio emphasized the impact on fan engagement and revenue, noting the team’s soft schedule and the need for improvement to remain competitive.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host/appear at the Maryland crab cake tour event at Planet Fitness on Thursday (promote the event on Baltimore Positive and bring promotional materials).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host/appear at the Maryland crab cake tour at Faidley’s (Fayette Lee’s) on Wednesday (coordinate event details and promotion).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host/appear at the Fishmonger’s Daughter event in Catonsville on the 21st (attend by reservation and promote on Baltimore Positive).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Bring Maryland Treasure scratch-off tickets to give away at upcoming events (prepare giveaway stash and distribution plan).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Organize and run the crab races in advance of the Preakness at Lexington Market / Faidley’s next week with Ivan Bates (confirm logistics and promotion).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Send Luke screenshots (social media screenshots referenced during the discussion) for him to review.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Consider/send an email to Mike Elias asking for clarity on accountability within the organization (follow up on accountability concerns described in the meeting).

Orioles’ Recent Performance and Upcoming Events

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Orioles’ current slump and mentions upcoming events, including the Maryland crab cake tour and a segment with GBMC about physical therapy and back pain.
• Nestor shares his regret about not attending a Yankees game in New York, where tickets were cheap and the weather was pleasant.
• Luke Jones acknowledges the Yankees’ strong performance and questions the Orioles’ response to recent comments from Craig Albernaz about the team’s direction.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the Orioles’ poor performance in the recent series against the Yankees, highlighting specific mistakes and missed opportunities.

Critique of the Orioles’ Management and Performance

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Orioles’ lack of competence and accountability, particularly from Mike Elias and the front office.
• Nestor expresses frustration with the team’s performance, including poor defense and inconsistent pitching, and questions the future of the franchise.
• Luke emphasizes the need for a shake-up within the organization, suggesting that the current management is not delivering results.
• Nestor and Luke debate the impact of injuries on the team’s performance and the need for better player development and strategic decisions.

Fan Engagement and Revenue Concerns

• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of fan engagement and the challenges of maintaining interest in the team amidst poor performance.
• Nestor mentions the impact of social media on fan sentiment and the need for the team to be more transparent and accountable.
• Luke highlights the financial implications of the team’s performance, including the potential impact on season ticket sales and overall revenue.
• Nestor reflects on the broader implications for the city and the region, emphasizing the need for the team to be a positive force in the community.

Future Outlook and Potential Changes

• Nestor and Luke speculate on potential changes within the organization, including the possibility of firing Mike Elias and making significant roster adjustments.
• Luke suggests that the team needs to make bold moves to turn things around, including trading underperforming players and bringing in new talent.
• Nestor expresses skepticism about the team’s ability to improve quickly, given the current state of the roster and the challenges facing the organization.
• Both agree that the team needs to start winning games and showing improvement to regain fan support and confidence.

Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks

• Nestor and Luke wrap up the discussion by reiterating their concerns about the team’s direction and the need for change.
• Nestor emphasizes the importance of holding the organization accountable and pushing for better performance and transparency.
• Luke reiterates the need for the team to be competitive and deliver results, both on the field and in terms of fan engagement and community impact.
• Both express hope for future improvements but acknowledge the significant challenges ahead for the Orioles organization.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles slump, Yankees sweep, Mike Elias, Craig Albernaz, player performance, defense issues, bullpen struggles, fan engagement, revenue concerns, organizational accountability, future outlook, injury impact, team morale, competitive strategy, fan disillusionment.

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively in the midst of a slump. Or, dare I say, I mean, I’m not in a slump. Dobbin and great crab cakes, we’re gonna be over Planet Fitness this week, on Thursday, then next week, we’ll be at Fayette Lee’s on Wednesday, doing the Maryland crab cake tour and the 21st at the fishmonger’s daughter now open in Catonsville by reservation. And you’ll be glad you went over there and saw them. I know they showed me. They’re like, this is your table in the front. This is where you’re going to do the podcast. And I’m like, okay, that’s where I’m going to be on the 21st so we have great guests all brought to you by Marilyn. The Maryland lottery. I’ll have the Maryland treasures to give away. Our friends at GBMC are giving me Danny umbergoglio to talk about the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, and I actually found my shirt. I it’s going to be great when I have the segment with GBMC. Also did a segment this week about physical therapy and back pain and getting back to form in many ways, also our friends at Farnham and Dermer, who are always informed of the comfort guys, by the way, now that it’s 80 again, your air condition blows up. Call farnin and Dermer, 410, 367777, you should have called them two weeks ago when I told you to. But if you hit click and you hear clack, you know bad things have happened. Luke, do you know how close I came to going to New York to the game on Monday night, not because I thought was gonna be a great game, or I thought that schlittler was gonna throw a no hitter. It’s just fun to say that I wound up at Cooper’s north with a delicious black and nahi tuna wrap. It was fantastic. Orange Crush may be unbelievable. But you know the thoughts of what could have been in the Bronx on a Monday night where there are plenty of good seats available, tickets were 11 bucks at one point on the app. So like I was all ready to take you up, and I said, sweep. I didn’t say which side, although I probably did, and we’ll have fun with it or whatever. But dude, season’s off the rails, man.

Luke Jones  02:10

How can I say otherwise? I mean, you go to New York and you get swept. I mean, first things first. Let’s get this out of the way. The Yankees look really good, and they were playing really, really good baseball long before the Orioles came into town. So let’s acknowledge that. Get that out of the way. They’re the best team in the American League. Might be the best team in the Bay in baseball. So that being said, Yeah, I mean, I go back to what we talked about the other day coming out of the Sunday loss, and you go back to Albernaz saying it’s a crucial point where, and I quote, What team do we want to be we can fold up and just think that everything will turn around just by itself, or we’ve got to put the work in and really make this happen. Well, his team’s response, first response to that comment, is they lose 11 to one, so or 12 to one. I’m sorry, it’s full disclosure, I actually stopped watching in the bottom of the eighth inning when Lou Trevino came in. And you know, might as well been Lee Trevino pitching. But I mean, it’s for anyone who didn’t watch the game. This was actually a competitive, winnable baseball game until it got to the bottom of the sixth inning, and you go back to how the Yankees scored their first four runs. I mean, very first inning. Shane boss had Aaron judge struck out, and neither he and I put it more on. Adley rushman didn’t challenge again. It’s the first inning. Normally, I would say, Don’t challenge. But when it’s Aaron judge, and there’s a runner on base, and it very much looks like strike three, I think you got to, you got to give it a whirl there, to challenge that so to to nothing for something that could have been avoided right there. It gets to three nothing when they commit an error on a relay throw. You know, ball gets, you know, it’s credited to davaris, but, you know, Gunner Henderson probably has to own that one a little bit more. Runner advances the third they get to third run on a sacrifice fly. Fourth run comes in a wild pitch, so it’s for nothing. And what had actually been a pretty good outing from Shane boss until the very end, where the walks just absolutely killed them. It could have been a lot better, but those are perfect examples of what’s wrong with this baseball team. No, they don’t do the big things well, and they’re certainly not doing the little things well, and it’s just really, really bad baseball. And we’re going to see if they’re going to turn it around, or if this is, this is rapidly going down the path of 2025 all over again. So let’s see what they’re made of. Can they get off the mat and win a series in Miami and and come home and play better baseball against the A’s? And then, oh, the Yankees are coming back into town. Then at this time a week from now, we’ll see. But. It’s not a whole lot to be optimistic about. I mean, they don’t, they don’t pitch. Well, the bullpen has rapidly caught up to the starting rotation in not pitching. Well, they’re hitting. I mean, they had some opportunities. I mean, right, right off the bat. You know, Adley rutsman gets a hit off Camp schlittler. So you’re saying, Okay, there’s no no hit situation, and he’s really good. Sigh of

Nestor Aparicio  05:24

relief. Let me tell you what, because I felt like this was a game I was supposed to attend, something weird is going to happen, losing 12 to one, right? But, and a guy named schlittler pitching a ticket’s been 11 bucks, and it being 71 degrees, and like i By the way, it was like 55 bucks to get in on Saturday. And I told my wife, this tells you what a nerd I am not. Maybe you are. I said to her, because we were out like watching the game, I’m having an Orange Crush enjoying myself and watching them get unbaked. But I said to her, they gave Mandalorian something away on Saturday bobbleheads Yankee Stadium

Luke Jones  06:07

for Star Wars.

Nestor Aparicio  06:09

Okay, you’re two through three. I don’t know what that I just said it out loud, like I knew what it was. And she’s like, Yeah, may the fourth should, maybe they should have given it away on Monday night. They’d have more people at the ballpark tonight. And I’m thinking to myself, Okay, I don’t know how all that. I didn’t even know it was a Star Wars reference, but I did think like, all right, you know, can they get up off the mat? They’re going to get swept it would have been interesting had I gone up, just in a general sense, because I wanted to walk around. I wanted to get those little chicken wings. What made ice cream that? Melanie Newman, dude, I was so gonna shock you and just put a picture up post me sitting. I was gonna try to find Melanie, but I probably couldn’t get down to the Bougie seats at Yankee Stadium with my $11 ticket. I don’t think it’s not like Memorial Stadium or old Yankee you just run up past the Usher just be No. I mean, they’re like, you’re quarantined when you’re at these new stadiums from these $700 tickets, where they, you know, they have the lounge the Seinfeld seats. But nonetheless, I like, I wanted to you, I wanted to go, dude, because I’m feeling like the season’s about to go into the slittler and it’s not going to be any fun. I mean, about a year and a half ago, I baked up you and me going to San Diego. Remember that? Maybe San Francisco? And they were so awful, and it was September. You’re like, I got football to do. We didn’t go, like, I have a companion pass, like, I can even take you. It’s like, somewhere exotic, like, I don’t know, St Louis or something, you know. So, you know, someplace fantastic, like Buffalo and drive to Toronto, like we’ve done all of this stuff, but like, the last time I had any fun with you, Arlington wasn’t really fun. I mean, you weren’t fun at all in Arlington. Full disclosure, Mark Viviano is doing the show, by the way, by Planet Fitness.

Luke Jones  07:59

I wasn’t I fun in Arlington,

Nestor Aparicio  08:01

dude, do you remember those first five innings when you didn’t have a clubhouse pass? You were not fun. That was not, we didn’t have fun.

Luke Jones  08:08

Okay, all right, whatever. I haven’t and

Nestor Aparicio  08:11

they didn’t score and they lost.

Luke Jones  08:14

Yeah?

Nestor Aparicio  08:16

Well, we had fun in Colorado. You and I, I think I said, like, that was kind of fun. I got the Getty Lee had it was okay. We had nice sliders in the Cabernet. It was fun. We had to use our passports. I thought that was kind of Neato. So, you know, but like, where’s the fun? Like, I’m just, I’m not being a jerk. I’m being like, this is for Don rovac. This is for Mark fine. This is for Katie Griggs, this is for Rubenstein era Getty, for all of them. For, you know, on behalf of my cousin, Who’s the oldest living Hall of Famer, on behalf of my wife, you know, who watches the Red Sox come to town. Doesn’t even she has hats jerseys. Doesn’t even bug me to come down. We went down to the Astros thing the other day. By the way, I had astronaut, Terry verts on who had an Astros hat in the shot the whole time, even though he talked up the Orioles and democracy and important things. But like, I just want to have fun, man, yeah. Like, and like, I was going to go up there just to look at pretty girls and see dudes with tattoos of Yankees, this and that. And I don’t know, I’ve never really walked around that statue area. I don’t know if you got to pay more or not. Like, like, I like the Jamaican food joint down the street. That’s eight bucks. Maybe it’s 12 bucks now with inflation, shumflation. But like, you know, like, I was just going to tool around New York on a 70 degree day and go to the game, because I looked at the schedule, I’m like, All right, not going to Miami down to that blimp that I dropped you off at at the All Star game. I mean, you and I’ve done most of these trips, right, like, you know, watching minor league ball in Tampa at the ballpark, I guess. I mean, like, if it mattered, if it mattered, we’d be on airplanes in July and August, because, like, we like baseball, least. If one of us does, I let them figure out which one of us it is. But like, this is supposed to be fun, dude, not me writing about how Mike Elias sucks, which I did in my column this but I like, which door do you want? Dude, the pitching the crappy defense and kicking the ball around me screaming at the television at Cooper’s north and my wife saying, You’re being loud. I’m like, course I’m being loud. Of Dundalk, they kicked the ball around. What the hell are they doing? Like I behave like this when I’m at home, which is why they probably don’t want me to press box next to you and malesky, because I’d be too much like you guys. What was your line? I used your line in my column this week about their about the when the ball’s in the air, it’s a mystery. It’s a, you know, I don’t know, dude, like, this isn’t any good, and it doesn’t smell, and I’m not reading last rights or playing taps or, you know, I’m not dramatic about it. I’m dramatic about it because it’s been 43 years, and in addition to their arrogance that I deal with, with Katie Griggs and watching our press box seats sit empty when I’m at the ballpark and I still care enough to even think about getting on a bus for $34.99 plus tax to go to New York and get a slice of pizza and chase the ghost of Action Bronson’s pizza joints around like, like, I want this to be fun for everybody. This is awful, dude. This is terrible.

Luke Jones  11:28

I mean, it’s to now be staring at a repeat of 2025, directly in the face. It’s a nightmare. I don’t want to dwell too much on the big picture, because we’re gonna have four months to talk

Nestor Aparicio  11:41

about. Yeah, I wrote about the big picture. You want to talk about, who’s pitching in the A’s and this? And I won’t hear it all,

Luke Jones  11:47

but I’ll leave you with the one thing that I absolutely thought watching the the latter innings of Monday night’s game, I thought, for the organization’s sake, boy, I hope they had a lot of people sign up for the season pass for mass and not going month to month because

Nestor Aparicio  12:02

wow.

Luke Jones  12:02

I mean, no, I’m just dead serious. I didn’t

Nestor Aparicio  12:05

even put that in my column, but I’m not even thinking about Don rovax, you know, revenue. Dude, I did think about revenue when I got there between the games of the doubleheader the last time they played at home. Dude, they’ve been outscored 50 to 15 since I showed up at the ballpark.

Luke Jones  12:23

Yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s a franchise record, and I’ll credit Andy Costa Costco for this, but there bit straight loss by five or more runs. That’s the longest streak in franchise history. I mean, we’re talking not just a five game losing streak, but a five game streak of being embarrassed in each game, really embarrassed in a couple of the games. I mean, to the point where we saw Weston Wilson take the hill again and or people who are still watching, as I said, I tuned

Nestor Aparicio  12:50

out if we were taking phone calls here in a legitimate if this were 1996 and it were fired, Davey Johnson or fire, Phil Regan or fire, Johnny. I mean, like in a real sports culture where Rosenthal and Litwin and Eisenberg sounds like a law firm

Luke Jones  13:08

fired the manager though. I mean, no, look, nobody’s

Nestor Aparicio  13:12

even like mad about it, like the way they should be. That’s not true.

Luke Jones  13:16

I

Nestor Aparicio  13:17

murder you. What are you maddest about? How about that? The fan in you

Luke Jones  13:22

that it’s a repeat of last year, that it’s looking more and more like they need to blow this thing up. And I don’t necessarily mean blow it up in the in the way that they did in 2018 but I mean that you need to blow up your front office and hire a new baseball head, because

Nestor Aparicio  13:39

that means a new manager. Well, sure, but, yeah, but, but that’s, I mean, that means these guys are going to be in charge of doling off. You started talking about trading rushman, and you’re not wrong. You’re not wrong, and we’re in that Manny Machado window that they screwed up the first time. I don’t, I don’t know how the new owners are going to withstand that and the television deal, and how labor plays into that. It’s really thick, dude, if they’re not going to have a season and they’re going to play it seven games under 500 for a little while, to get back to three games, to get down to nine games, to get up to four games under 500 if they’re going to play that game from now until we’re going to get Westberg back in holiday, back in August, and we’re going to go to above 500 because we’re going to go on a winning streak before the all star but if, like, if they’re going to play awful and be underwater, and I don’t know how they’re going to get above water right this minute with This lineup as constructed, the way they play defense, just all of the body language of the manager, just he didn’t really know what he’s doing. He’s a rookie manager, he’s middle management, he’s all of this. That’s why I got to push it to Elias. And I don’t think I know. Rubenstein doesn’t know anything about baseball. Hey, that’s very clear and arrogance. He probably thinks. Knows more than he does, probably based on me meeting Priscilla when I met her, like I don’t know where the grown ups walk in the room. That’s not Katie Griggs, although she might get an opinion in this case, and then you really are off the rails if she’s picking the baseball people, but, but nonetheless, I don’t know where they’re going to turn you know what? I mean, like he’s their rock at this point. On the baseball operation side, Rubenstein sat next to him, gave him a vote of confidence. What? Four weeks ago, you were in the room with Rubenstein that day, right? So, like, they’re not going to fire him before the all star break. Are they going to fire him October 3. I mean, they fire him when they get 13 games under 503 weeks from now, if, that’s if this thing really gets pu ish, you know what I mean? Because it doesn’t feel like it has the capability of being the 92 win ace, let alone the 92 win team. They don’t feel like they can play 600 ball over the next month as constructed, they forget seven or eight under where they could catch fire and go on a 12 and three tear. I’m just talking about them holding their own to win series, and even with the Yankees coming next week that they could win a couple of them. You know what I mean? Like it doesn’t feel and I know it’s always darkest before dawn, but I keep looking at the lineup, this isn’t the lineup. That’s holiday westburg We’re waiting on.

Luke Jones  16:29

I mean, yeah, saying that, but, but we’re continuing to talk about all star players that are underperforming. I mean, by the way, westburg is not coming back. They shut him down on Monday. He’s probably getting Tommy John surgery. So let’s, let’s throw that out. And especially the way this is trending, there’s no reason to mess around with the idea of what he’s going to be the DH, I mean, then what do you do with, you know, getting beside a regular bats when he’s not catching, you know, well, then

Nestor Aparicio  16:54

who’s going to play third base?

Luke Jones  16:56

Well, they need to, probably need to go get a third baseman. Now that doesn’t mean you’re going to necessarily go acquire an all star. But can you, can you acquire a Ramon or a kind of guy? You know that that should be a reasonable ask for someone who’s allegedly a baseball genius. So, you know, I mean, it’s, look, I’m not going to sit here and paint an optimistic picture, other than I do think they’ll start playing better than what we saw over this four game series, right? That would put them as the worst team in the history of the franchise, kind of stuff. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to

Nestor Aparicio  17:30

if it’s that way, for the next two weeks, the season’s over.

Luke Jones  17:33

Oh, of course it is. And then it then it’s up 1,000% a repeat of last year. I mean, this, this is the point last year where they had the free fall, and then Brandon Hyde was fired.

Nestor Aparicio  17:42

Well, I can’t say much more about free falling when you’ve been outscored. And that’s a Tom Penney song 15, you’re free falling, bro.

Luke Jones  17:48

You mean a free fall over two weeks, right where you play like this for two weeks. So, well, we

Nestor Aparicio  17:53

get set up straight here talking about pitching matchups in Miami and, you know, going down to, you know, Versailles and Kaya ocho and woo hoo. Go win some games in Miami. Okay? They win two out of three. They come back, they’re going to see the A’s, and they’re going to see they’re going to see the Yankees, right? So, like, I don’t know, maybe they win five out of six here. I, maybe I, and then I’m, you know, ripping up my, my lead story from the website, and saying, but I’m not burying them. I’m just trying to hold Elias accountable for the first time in a long time, because, like, we’ve been sitting here talking about this bat and that thing and this bullpen and that defense and this

Luke Jones  18:30

philosophy and all of that, you know he’s in charge of all that. I mean, he’s in charge of all that. It’s not look I don’t I’m not going to sit here and say that I know Craig Albernaz is going to be a good manager, or that, I know definitively that he’s a bad manager, but he’s, he’s the field manager. We’ve talked about this. We’ve talked about this for years now. Middle management Craig Albernaz didn’t pick this roster. I’m guessing. He had a little bit of input here and there on certain questions or certain things that he might value, whatever. But it’s Mike Elias. He runs a show. And we can go back to the point I made. I don’t know if it was coming out of Sunday’s game or last week or sometime recently, where I said, when you look at the bulk of this young core, you know whether we’re talking about guys who can’t stay healthy or guys that just haven’t played well and continue to play poorly and continue to make you wonder, like you know, regardless of your top 100 prospect status at one point, is the light bulb going to ever go on? But I made the point where, as more time goes on and we see that group collectively struggle. And keep in mind, Gunner Henderson and Adley rutschman Were not the result of tanking. They were the result of the 2018 team. So I’m talking more cowser, Heston, kerstad, Jackson, holiday, Kobe mayo, like that group, you know, kind of the the second wave of guys that arrived, starting in 2023

Nestor Aparicio  19:57

I like how you make a ledger for this. You know what’s on elias’s side? More, it’s not because, I mean, somebody’s got to hold them accountable. It’s not going to be, it’s not going to be the mass and broadcast team. You know what I’m saying.

Luke Jones  20:09

But those are the players that they picked after Mike Elias said they had no choice but to stay really bad in 2019 and 2020, and 2021, those were the three tanking years. 2029 2018 was not a tanking year. 2018 they signed Alex Cobb right before the season started, which was a ill advised move that the

Nestor Aparicio  20:30

basset thing doesn’t look like it’s any better if this thing’s gone off the rails,

Luke Jones  20:34

although that’s a little bit different. Bassett was the very beginning of spring training. Cobb was

Nestor Aparicio  20:40

$19 million dollars. I mean, I felt like it was a difference

Luke Jones  20:43

maker,

Nestor Aparicio  20:44

and I see him in the dugout,

Luke Jones  20:46

they gave him real money too.

Nestor Aparicio  20:49

Yeah, I know, but especially for the Angelos group. But in the modern era, it feels like these guys are open for business, that we should have different expectations without the Angelos family running the team, we should, and I don’t need more

Luke Jones  21:05

money, Nestor, my issue is not money. It’s competent. My issue is the culture, the organizational philosophies, what they are, what they are prioritizing. From a development standpoint, all of these guys were heralded as great prospects. Now I want to be clear, you don’t hang banners for being having the number one farm system in baseball. And we all know that prospects are suspects, even the best ones, right? We know there’s truly no such thing as a slam dunk. But my issue is not with money being I would say I had an issue with how they approached 2023 but that was also the end of the Angelos regime. So in terms of not augmenting

Nestor Aparicio  21:45

and they never function like a normal franchise forever, they never, I mean, they’re still not functioning like a normal franchise in some ways, because they have this television they have the labor at the end of the year, they really don’t have the revenue to match the money they’ve spent at this point, which was my point about walking around there on Thursday and thinking, all right, they’ve done all this with the TVs, and they have the suites, and they have the media and they Yeah, I’m looking around, I’m like, wow, you know where, how is this going to get underwritten? And that’s one of the reasons that I wanted to go to Yankee Stadium, dude, especially on a Monday night, just to sniff out like how much money’s transacting around there. I know it never correlates, but in the grand scheme of things, things need to get better around here. More people need to spend more money. I heard Cal Ripken was out, and I want to get clarity on what Cal is saying to people, but somebody wound up in a Cal Ripken sweet speech thing about civic pride and investing in the Orioles and buying sweets and for businesses and whatnot. And you’re down there a lot more than me. I’ve been down there twice already this year, and I went for afternoon games, and I see it on TV. I see how they sell seats now in that almost like Hollywood, where they, you know, put people in every second, third row and scatter people around. It makes it feel a little bit more full, and it also gives people a little bit more room to have a conversation if they want to, too. And I see that when I go to pick tickets as well. And that’s cool. That’s fine, you know, spread people out. But the reality of whether this is going to be an ongoing civic concern is my overwhelming concern, as much as Elias, or whether these people have any level of competence, competence. I have not seen that in Katie Griggs. I do not know of that from Mark fine. I certainly have not felt that from David Rubenstein, by the way, the whistler needs an NFL gig. I saw this on LinkedIn. He’s trying to get his national anthem whistle into the NFL game. So I want to help him out as well. I don’t sense that they are wowing local business and sponsors and saving the city and breathing life into the city, and filling up hotel rooms and filling up what it’s left of the harbor, or any of these sort of institutional mandates. And every time I’ve ever brought that up, you and the baseball people always say, well, they gotta win. They gotta win, they got a winner. Nobody’s going to come. They got to

Luke Jones  24:22

win, right? Everything you’re talking about like they’re not. And now, and the on field part,

Nestor Aparicio  24:25

and here we go right now, this is where we get into May, and all of that that I concern myself with, you know, in regard to holding them accountable in a journalistic way, which I’ve been doing for 42 years, since Edward Bennett Williams, since we almost lost the team to DC, since we lost the Colts, since we fantastic fans night we built the stadium like all that the franchise is supposed to represent, and that’s for bashati too, and I’ll get to him in season. They’ll have their season begins like Wednesday night, when they kick off and. Rio, if this team’s eight games under 500 next week, when you and I leave each other at fayley’s, which was my fear last week, is that it’s trending. I said they need to be 500 Preakness week. That’s what I said. I said they need to be 500 Preakness week. They need to be relevant. And you’re talking about people cutting their mat your mom cutting their masks in subscription. Instead of giving them 99 bucks, she only gave him 40 and said, Go away June 1. If I want to, I’m not gonna be on vacation in July anyway. And like, that’s the reality of how people consume baseball that aren’t named Aparicio and Jones. Anybody in our audience? Thank you for being here.

Luke Jones  25:40

Well, it’s there are more consumer choices. I’ve talked about this a lot when we’ve talked about streaming t you know, streaming TV compared to being locked into a two year contract with Comcast or direct TV, or, you know, how things work 25 years ago, right? I mean, that’s it’s not how it works anymore. So you do need to be more competitive in that way. And I hear everything you’re saying, but you have a fan base right now. And look, social media is not everything, but it, it’s, it tells you something. I see loathing. I see disdain for this ball club right now, and I don’t think it.

Nestor Aparicio  26:14

See you read more than I do. Please tell me about it. Send me the

Luke Jones  26:17

screenshot. Just yeah, I think you’re

Nestor Aparicio  26:19

I don’t spend my night doing that. I mean, I watched Albernaz After the game, and I took his quotes down like a good reporter, and I’m just sort of like, he looks beaten, dude. He looks beleaguered. They look beleaguered.

Luke Jones  26:31

Don’t care how much of an Orioles Homer you might be, or a raven’s Homer you might be, or a Yankees Homer you might be, or whatever the team is. I mean, did anyone watch a series? There’s no positive to take out of it, other than it’s over. Finally, so but, but I think I use the example with you a few years back, how I have a text group, you know, with a bunch of my buddies that I played high school football with, you know, going back before high school, even, and we keep in touch. And couple years ago, it was heartening to me that friends of mine, who never really thought of it as big baseball fans, were watching all the time, and they were really excited. Yes, two days ago was the first time since opening day that anyone had mentioned the Orioles, and it was in mocking, making fun of kind of terms people are either too,

Nestor Aparicio  27:25

I’ve already sent you the Major League, you know, crappy of you know, I’ve already sent that to you on text. So, yeah,

Luke Jones  27:32

they’re either turned out, tuned out already, or they’re really ticked. I think, I think the die hards are really ticked, and they’ll keep watching because they’re diehards, but they’re really ticked, and I’m guessing they’re not going to be nearly as inclined to go to the ballpark as often as they do, especially depending on who may maybe had 13 game plans in the past or 29 game plans in the past. And we know that that changed

Nestor Aparicio  27:57

people like me and lock and fora that are the few truth tellers, and you call it down the middle and, like, there’s not a lot of call it down the middle going on when you’re watching the broadcast and you’re married to that four hours a night where it’s like hostage videos once things go south, like, literally, they’re not last place. They’re in fifth place. You know, you just hear all the verbiage that it’s like Kevin Brown’s at home combing his hair and practicing the things he can’t say. And it’s like this is when finger pointing happens and ugliness happens and bad bad relief pitching happens, and I mean the Pete Alonso boo birds, or whatever that’s going to come off because and then there’s the trade the gunners and the trade the adleys. And we’re really going to let Elias do this, you know, be the one that trades people in July and August, if they’re 13 games under 500 and like I would say, if they’re 13 games under 500 Dude, it almost feels like it’s a win, because it doesn’t feel like they can be 13 above. And that isn’t me being like, nasty or nasty Nestor. That’s me looking at Cade Povich and Brandon young and the bullpen and the way they play defense, and the whole and Colton cows are swing and the, you know, waiting on Tyler O’Neal and believing the Richmond’s going to hit 346, the rest of the year, he’s not. But you know, he’ll, he’ll cool off. Who’s going to eat up? Kobe mayo, Colton cowser, Jeremiah, Jackson, he’s already hot. Yeah, you know, Taylor Ward can’t get any hotter if he gets 74 doubles this year. Like that’s not happening. Also,

Luke Jones  29:40

also didn’t understand why he wasn’t in the lineup Monday night.

Nestor Aparicio  29:43

But go ahead. Well,

Luke Jones  29:44

give him a night off when you’re on the verge of getting swept, and you and you rest one of your best players. I mean, I, I don’t understand it, you know well,

Nestor Aparicio  29:51

and you’re not the general manager. And this general manager who I would have fired 51 weeks ago when he fired the manager and ID for three. Days has no accountability. Such accountability to me that, you know, maybe I should send him an email and ask him if he really is accountable or not. I mean, he has emailed with me. I mean, I don’t have a press credential. These people, the stadiums freaking empty, and they’re they’re getting flushed down the toilet, like what the Raven schedule comes out in a week, and they’re running the freaking Preakness and Laurel and screwing that up, bro. I mean, like, I wish I were, oh, Trump’s running the country into the ground. Gas is $5 a gallon. And, like, I got a lot of stuff I could be really ishy about. But like, the baseball season, we haven’t had enough around here over the body of work for me to be given hall passes out after they get their ass kicked. 50 to 15 over the last five days since I took my wife to the ballpark, and she put a she, you know what, we got down the ballpark, she’s like, I should have worn my pink Oreo hat. And I It feels like a year since she’s had it on. But guys, you have to have located but like, anybody thinks I hate the baseball team, you know, blood, farts, you know what I mean? Like, I’m tired of this. I’m I’m so tired of it that I can’t even kick and scream. You know what I mean, I can’t do free the birds. There’s only so much shaming to go around when I went out to the temple in Pikesville to meet the owner, only to have him to see the back of his head the minute I met him. I mean, like, it’s people I and I still, I’m not even bullying Luke. I still almost went to the game on Monday night. Like, literally, I still almost went and pulled my credit card out to go see an Orioles game 194 miles away from where we live. I’m the woman Stockholm Syndrome, dude. But I don’t believe there’s hope in this particular season, as I see it right this minute. And I guess the odds in Vegas would have let big Poppy will get his hose out, all phallic. And I could bet, bet, bet. I could bet on it if I want to, but I put them at a billion to one right now based on the body language, the roster, the guys they’re playing, the guys they’re not playing, the guys that are hurt, the guy running the team, all of it. Pu,

Luke Jones  32:22

so are they going to lose 110 games?

Nestor Aparicio  32:25

I don’t know. I don’t think so.

Luke Jones  32:26

I mean, I think

Nestor Aparicio  32:27

they’re going to lose enough from now on that they’re not going to become interesting. And that’s the part that sucks, yeah.

Luke Jones  32:34

I mean, that that’s very well possible. That’s

Nestor Aparicio  32:36

what I’m saying. Five under, all right? They’ll win a couple here this week. They’ll get to two under. Then the angels will come and bury them, and then they’ll fall to five under, and they’ll be two under, and we’ll talk about this and that, and like, that’s not, I don’t know. You know, they don’t, they don’t catch the ball. I keep going back to that. They’re a nightly enforcement.

Luke Jones  32:56

I mean, I’ll say this. I mean, you and I misjudged that part of it, because we talked about the defense, but we also kind of just brushed it off, right? I mean, the defense,

Nestor Aparicio  33:04

so does the general manager,

Luke Jones  33:06

well, he doesn’t value defense. I mean, you can’t tell me that this organization values defense with the the alignments that they put out there on most nights, and the constant moving guys around the position by position, to think that that that’s easy to do. Dude, I

Nestor Aparicio  33:21

had a monkey come in here, a Capuchin monkey, and make picks. And during the NCAA Tournament, Pizza Hut. John from pizza, John Schultz, he put me up to that because he wanted to see me get the living manure scared out of me. I had a colonoscopy that day, right right here in the studio, and I could have a monkey make lineups, just literally, just pick, just give me nine names, pull them out of a hat, and let’s see how we go. Beavers, let’s bat him third. Like I don’t I don’t know what computer they’re spitting this thing out of, but at least have nerds like you understand it. At least sell it in the press box to somebody as understandable, relatable, that you could come on my airways and give me eight minutes, as you do behind the scenes every day, every day, at 233 o’clock, you come together and the computer spits out the way you think your best chance to win is tonight. I would at least love to see some we’re talking about horse races this week. There’s a form. You can look at the form and read it and see why. You know, maybe trainers did things based on distances and weights and weather, and I just commute. They need to communicate better, right? At least to their their the people investing in them, the bird I’m not investing in them. I didn’t give them any money. Well, I did. I bought that heritage Smokehouse sandwich, which was delicious last week, so thank you for that, but I don’t invest in them. I mean, I get my wife suckers me into the cable package, and we have what we have, but like, I’m not deciding to cut them off in 99 bucks one way or another. But like, they really should talk to the people that invest in them, the people that every month. If their credit card sucks out bird land inside or money, those are the people that honestly can be the most angry about all of it, but the lack of accountability. I’m the most angry about that as a citizen, as a taxpayer, as a stakeholder, as an FCC license holder, as somebody that sends you down to the ballpark every night, and as a company, something that we’re invested in, their good fortune, even though they’re too effing dumb to realize. And I could get loud and I could scream, and I could do all of that. I am, you know, I’m 35 years into this. I’m too old to be diving behind the lockers Luke at this point. But it’s, it’s not funny, and it’s tragic for the city, for momentum for these new owners. Just all of it like it’s just, it sucks

Luke Jones  35:49

and but I’ll continue to go back and say the issue is not money. Their payroll is, is almost twice as much as Tampa Bay’s right now.

Nestor Aparicio  35:58

It’s performance.

Luke Jones  36:00

It’s it’s not doing nearly enough with the resources that you do have. Mike Elias and members of this organization, and those who’ve talked about this organization, and even going back to John Angelos at the end, talking about the types of teams and the types of franchises they were trying to emulate. They talked about Tampa Bay, they talked about Cleveland, they talked about Milwaukee, St Louis as a regional frame. St Louis, to me, was, was the one that was like the vision, the long term vision, right, was to be something like what the Cardinals have been over the last 25 years. That was the North

Nestor Aparicio  36:36

Star,

Luke Jones  36:37

although the Cardinals in recent years, you know, recent years that hasn’t been quite the case, quite as much success. Well, their

Nestor Aparicio  36:43

North Star was the Red Sox 20 years ago, with Nesson and the network and a regional team, until Washington took over. Then all of a sudden, it had to be a different kind of vision. And I think that I sometimes struggle with that, because I’m not on the inside. I don’t sit down there and talk to their executives about money in the way that I did with Dick Cass for 25 years, until he threw me out and acted like he didn’t know me, but very competently, I might add, as well. But like their business model has changed in that you could talk about them having the Milwaukee Brewers, but that’s a big state. You could talk about them following these Kansas City that’s a big Midwest that you know, they really are limited from a fan base perspective, with the Phillies and your brother in law, and I know you’re taking your niece to see Nelly. It’s gonna get hot in here. She’ll be asleep by then, hopefully I get, I don’t know, dude, she’s five. Is she ready for Nelly? That’s another we’ll do that later in the week. But for me, with the franchise itself and what they’re trying to do, and trying to finance, and what their North Star really is, Katie Griggs is North Stars. We’re going to get an all star game. Great. We show off great. You know, Don roback’s Trying to find businesses to invest. There aren’t a lot. There aren’t nearly as many as there used to be. They’re not nearly as wide stretch where you could go to Richmond and get them, or, you know, up to Harrisburg and get them like the Philly success is there the Washington market. They’re just a lot of challenges that these guys bought into this. We love the Orioles. I’m from Baltimore. All of that to the realities of 2026, for them, and what it’s going to take the kind of enthusiasm that you and I, quite frankly, are going to have to have, not just the newscasters they pay to wear the Oriole jerseys on opening day and get excited about I had Terry Virts on. He’s an Oriole fan, Joan Jett, whatever, but like to reinvigorate the city in a way that’s way above and beyond you and me and our pay grade, quite frankly, finding people we don’t even know and haven’t met yet to come to Oreo games, not the people we already know who are making fun of them.

Luke Jones  38:57

I mean, it just but it continues to come back to all the all you just mentioned is a non starter if they’re not going to win and be competitive and be interesting and and make have a chance to make the playoffs and let people dream of winning a World Series. I mean, their payroll 16th in baseball right now. It’s not bottom of the barrel. There are a lot of teams out there that have a way lower payroll than them that are outplaying them by a wide margin right now. So everything you mentioned is completely valid looking at it from a big picture lens, but you’ve got to get in that position again. Like I said, Tampa Bay has half the payroll the Orioles right now. Go look at the standings. Look at what Cleveland spends on an annual basis, and look how many times they’ve been to the playoffs and been in, you know, been in at least the ALCS, let’s say in, in some recent years, where they’ve had a chance, or, you know, at least get into the divisional, you know, Division Series. They’re, if I’m David Rubenstein and I’m Eric Eddy and I’m this ownership group, I’m saying, You. Like Elias, we’ve given you quite a bit of money to spend the last two years. Now it’s not, it’s not top of baseball, it’s not the Yankees and not the Dodgers. Never

Nestor Aparicio  40:09

will be, never will be, right?

Luke Jones  40:10

But we’ve given you money to spend over the last couple years, way more than John Angelos did. What have you gotten for it? How many? How much has each win cost. What happened to this farm system that was supposed to be this elite talent pipeline that was just going to be a feeder system, and okay, if we weren’t going to sign Adley rutsman and gunner Henderson, that was going to be fine, because we’re going to have guys on their heels a few years later that are going to be ready to replace them, like, what happened to that? You know? I mean, it’s again, you can keep talking about how how great this farm system was. I’ll tell you what’s nails to the on the chalkboard to me at this point, is people talking about how talented they are. Talent supposed to show up at some point, isn’t it? So, I mean, the buck stops with Elias, but I am really starting to question these players too. I mean, like, I question all of it, right? So it’s tough, but it’s tough for me to think about the big picture and revenue and all star games and all that stuff. When they’ve got the worst run differential in the American League right now, they’re, they’re, I mean, they’re on the verge of being in last place, and it’s not even mid May,

Nestor Aparicio  41:24

but I look at the lineup, and I look at the rotation, and I think feels kind of last place. When I look at the names in the lineup the last five days and say, These are the guys they’re going and playing with, it feels like an outfit.

Luke Jones  41:40

72 on base percentage. Gunner Henderson has a 272, on base percentage. Pete Alonso needed a really strong last week just to get over 700 for his ops. I mean, I hear you at the same time. I’m not how am I going to sit here and rail on Blaze Alexander or leotiberis, who’s actually been one of their better players when their stars aren’t playing and performing. Go look at the Okay, I get it. It stinks they lost Zach Eflin. It stinks that Dean Kramer is on the Il. Trevor Rogers is on the IL for, you know, the next week or so, you know, another week or so. What’s his era? What’s Kyle bradish’s era? Shane Boz, you know, we talked about it. I mean, Monday could have been a decent start for him, but then it fell apart at the end, and he walked a bunch of people. It’s tough for me to lament. I mean, you’re, you’re doing what, frankly, like you saying that is kind of the apologist way of looking at the Orioles the last couple years. Oh, they’re really injured. They’re really injured. Oh, they’re really injured. Look, the entries are a big part of it. I’m in agreement. But if your stars aren’t going to be stars, at the very least, how am I going to get mad at the guys that are filling in? You know what I mean? Like gunner Henderson’s not playing like a star. Gunner, Henderson’s got a 208 batting average. Pete Alonso, only over the last week, started hitting it all. I mean, like, so it’s tough for me to look at the lesser guys on this roster, if the if the guys that are supposed to be in is aren’t even doing it. So I hear you, but I’m going to continue to push back when, when your stars aren’t playing like stars. Gunner Henderson, supposed to be the aircraft carrier. He’s not playing like an aircraft carrier. Pete Alonso, they gave $31 million a year to for the next five years. He hasn’t played like a $31 million player. His defense has been really good, but my gosh, we’re going to talk about his defense. That reminds me of Chris Davis seven years ago where, like, that’s all Madison could talk about, was Chris Davis’s defense because he wasn’t hitting anymore. So I hear you at the same time that that’s a crutch, because that’s implying that it’s all about the injuries. It’s not the guys that they were counting on to be major parts of this have been colossal disappointments. And then when you couple it with the injuries, yeah, you do get a team that’s hovering in last place right now. So sorry, you know, I’m not, I’m just, I’m going to continue to push back on that when Gunnar Anderson has, you know, a 272 on base percentage, when Pete Alonso is batting 215 right? I mean, I get it plays out. You know, Blaze Alexander is not someone you want to be your everyday third baseman. But you know what? He’s better than Kobe Mayo at this point. So at least because for the defense alone. And you know that kind of brings me back to something that you check out at Baltimore, positive.com, I wrote it Monday before Monday’s embarrassing blowout. I’m waiting for a shake up here. No, you’re not going to fire the manager six weeks into his career. And you know that that’s that’s silliness. They’re not firing the manager. I mean, they might fire Mike Elias at some point before the season’s over, but they’re not firing. Manager, but I kind of look at it through the lens of michaelias, you’re responsible for all this. What are you going to do? Are you going to send a message? Is anyone going to be held accountable? I thought, I thought Sunday was a perfect I don’t want to use the term perfect, because that sounds like I’m piling on. I thought that was an opportunity to send a message to your entire ball club after Kobe Mayo had two gaffes in the field, to send him to Norfolk to say, you know one you’re not performing to Kobe that’s below the bar. You got to know when a ball’s rolling foul down the third base line that you got to let it go foul, right? You’ve got to know when the bases are loaded and you make a diving stop at first base, not to throw home. You take you take the shore out at first. Those are, those are plays you learn growing up as a young baseball player. So I thought that was an opportunity right there. If you were trying to send a message, not just

Nestor Aparicio  45:56

my dad

Luke Jones  45:56

would say, you got your head in the game, but there was a perfect opportunity to me to send a message. And again, I’m not trying to make it about Kobe Mayo individually, although it is to a point, but that was for everyone to see. Hey, like guys, this is this, isn’t it.

Nestor Aparicio  46:12

You can only fail here so long until we have to ask somebody who’s not failing

Luke Jones  46:17

like I said, you know, Blaze Alexander, look his his hitting has been worse than Mayo’s, but he’s going to defend. He’s going to play good defense, and I will say, unlike Kobe mayo, go look at what Blaze Alexander did the last couple years with Arizona. Like last year, he had a representative season. He wasn’t a stud with the bat, but he swung the bat like he’s not a complete no hit utility player, but are they going to send a message? Or do you go back to and I’ll leave you with this. You go back to Albernaz. Is point that he made after Sunday’s game, and he said, What team do we want to be? We can fold up and just think that everything will turn around just by itself. Or we’ve got to put the work in and really make this happen. Well, if you don’t do anything, and you kind of, I don’t mean sign Lou Trevino, if you’re just going to maintain the status quo largely, and just think it’s going to turn around by itself. I mean, okay, but you’re rapidly approaching 2025, territory. I mean, they’re staring it right in the face now. So I think a shake up is in order of some sort, whether it’s mayo, whether it’s kauser, who, who actually had a decent night at the plate Monday night, or if it’s at some point here, if Tyler O’Neill doesn’t start showing a pulse, DFA him. And just say it’s a sunk cost, like, you know, you’re not getting that money back in terms of production something. Because, man, this is as this is depressing. I mean, this is absolutely depressing. The way this season has started for them, this is an absolute nightmare for them to be in the position they’re in at Cinco on Cinco de Mayo, and it’s looking just, I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  47:55

the real thing isn’t just that they’re losing, it’s that they’re bad. They’re not just, it’s not, it’s not accidental that they’re losing. It’s not bad luck. It’s not injuries. It’s not It’s they’ve

Luke Jones  48:05

had until the Yankees, they’ve had a relatively soft schedule. They have had one of the easier schedules in baseball these last four days. That’s, that’s, that’s another animal. Like I said, the Yankees are great. I’ll, I’ll crown them right now. They look I think they’re going to run away with the Al East. I don’t think Tampa’s going to continue to play at the clip they’re playing at but, but that said prior to that, they played a very reasonable schedule, and all they were able to do was barely hold their own at a game under 500 that does not bode well for the rest of the season. Let’s just call a spade a spade.

Nestor Aparicio  48:41

Yeah, you gotta, you know, gotta win. Two out of three, two out of three, two out of three. You know, got to get above 500 got to be eight above 510 above five like they, they don’t feel like they they’re a horse that’s going to be able to get up that hill. Luke Jones is here. I’ll be doing the Maryland crab cake tour at Planet Fitness on the seventh. That is Thursday. The Orioles out of town. We’re waiting on the Raven schedule middle of next week as well. We have that Brazil game in September. Any breaking news happens first in the wnst tech service. That’s all brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy. We’re going to be doing the crab races in advance of the Preakness at Lexington market at faidley’s next week with Ivan Bates. I will have Maryland treasure scratch offs to give away a horse is a horse, of course, of course. And we’ll be also at faidley’s partner, the faidley family in Catonsville, is going to be the fishmonger’s daughter that will be on the 21st of the month. All of it brought to you by GBMC and foreign and Durham. We had so much fun at Pizza John’s. Hope you’re enjoying those chats that we had, I got John Allen out, my buddy Ethan Giffin stopped by John Hoey from the Y political candidates. We had Nick Stewart out running for Baltimore County Executive, as well as Sarah David, who was running for Baltimore County State’s Attorney, and she did a long dissertation on citizenship that I thought was a. Worth listening to, so go listen to it. He’s Luke, I’m Nestor. We are W NSD. Am 1570 to Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive.