Luke Jones and Nestor discuss Orioles and Mike Elias selloff of nine MLB players at trade deadline

No one should be shocked by the deadline deals of Mike Elias but fans of the Baltimore Orioles are certainly within reason wondering what the grand plan looks like to compete in 2026. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the large sell off of nine MLB players at trade deadline in exchange for 16 prospects. It’s going to be a long, last-place offseason in Birdland to rebuild the pitching.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ trade deadline, where Mike Elias sold off nine MLB players, including Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn, for 16 minor leaguers. They highlighted the addition of prospects like Boston Bateman and Mason Miller, and the financial implications of the deals. Jones emphasized the importance of the young core, including Adley Rutschman and Gunner Henderson, to step up. They also noted the need for strategic offseason moves, including potential trades and free agent signings, to improve the team’s pitching and overall performance.

• [ ] Evaluate the performance of the Orioles’ young core players over the final two months of the season.
• [ ] Determine if any of the Orioles’ young core players could be trade candidates this offseason to acquire pitching.
• [ ] Assess the Orioles’ options for improving the pitching staff this offseason through free agency, trades, and internal development.
• [ ] Decide on the Orioles’ manager and coaching staff for the 2024 season, as the current interim manager Tony Mansolino may not provide the necessary credibility.

Orioles Trade Deadline Recap and Initial Reactions

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the topic of the Orioles’ trade deadline, highlighting the significant moves made by Mike Elias.
• Luke Jones discusses the trades involving Urias, Kittredge, and the overall impact on the team, emphasizing that the young core remains intact.
• Luke Jones mentions the addition of 16 minor leaguers to the farm system, including some notable prospects from the San Diego trade.
• The conversation touches on the financial aspects of the trades, noting that some deals included cash to sweeten the return.

Evaluating the Trades and Future Moves

• Luke Jones reflects on the bittersweet departure of Cedric Mullins and other key players, emphasizing the importance of organizational depth.
• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the financial implications of the trades, noting that the Orioles spent significantly but did not see a return in ticket sales or victories.
• Luke Jones highlights the importance of the offseason, suggesting that the trades were part of a larger strategy to restock the farm system and make more significant moves.
• The discussion includes the potential for trading some of the young players acquired in the offseason for starting pitchers or relievers.

Impact on the Young Core and Future Plans

• Luke Jones emphasizes that the trades should not be seen as a rebuild but rather an inventory restocking for future moves.
• The conversation explores the readiness of the new prospects, noting that many are still a few years away from contributing at the major league level.
• Luke Jones suggests that Mike Elias’s job security may be influenced by the success of these trades and the team’s performance in the offseason.
• The discussion includes the potential for trading some of the young core players, such as Colton Cowser or Adley Rutschman, to acquire more established talent.

Challenges and Opportunities for the Orioles

• Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discuss the challenges faced by the Orioles, including injuries and underperformance by key players.
• The conversation highlights the need for the young core to step up and provide leadership, with a focus on players like Adley Rutschman and Gunner Henderson.
• Luke Jones mentions the importance of the offseason, including potential free agent signings and trades, to improve the team’s prospects for 2025.
• The discussion includes the potential for the Orioles to make significant improvements, drawing parallels to the Blue Jays’ turnaround from a similar situation.

Reflections on the Season and Looking Ahead

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones reflect on the disappointing season, noting that it is one of the most disappointing in franchise history.
• The conversation includes a discussion on the importance of staying healthy and performing well for the young core players to gain experience and confidence.
• Luke Jones emphasizes the need for the Orioles to take advantage of their current resources and make smart decisions in the offseason.
• The discussion concludes with a focus on the importance of the young core players and the potential for significant improvements in the future.

Luke Jones and Nestor discuss … MLB players at trade deadline

Fri, Aug 01, 2025 7:39AM • 51:19

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles, trade deadline, Mike Elias, minor leaguers, farm system, prospects, rebuild, Cedric Mullins, Ryan O’Hearn, Ramon Laureano, pitching, young core, Adley Rutschman, Colton Cowser, offseason.

SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. We are finally through the trade deadline, and what a deadline it was. We have a week to process all this before we get the Maryland crab cake tour back out to the Beaumont I will have the lucky sevens doublers as well as the Whammy with pressure luck. Mike Elias pressed his luck all day on Thursday. Luke Jones joins us now for all things residue. The first night was the ureas and Kittredge exits, which were little shocking, a little strange with Team control. And then there was everything that followed leading up to the trade that line, which nothing shocking here, except that they don’t have a lot of baseball team left Luke, and that has been pointed out by all Oriole fans. Well,

Luke Jones  00:57

the entire young course still intact. So I think we need to point that out before people want to jump to conclusions and say, Oh, they’re just entering another rebuild. I mean, I don’t think that’s the case. I think and we can not so much dive into the specific players. I mean, we’re talking about 16 minor leaguers when you count the draft pick for Brian Baker that they’ve added to their farm system. Some names are more interesting than others. Some names, I think, are legitimate prospects that are going to make their way up their system. But I think a lot of this is going to be what is going to happen this off season, is this more and more inventory that they’ve restocked their farm system with what they still had left in their system. And it’s not as though their system had nothing left. It’s not as though they had graduated all their prospects, but you’ve now added inventory. And I think for me, the big question is, do we see a lot of this flipped in the off season for starting pitcher or relievers, which obviously they’re going to we talked about it as we were kind of kind of just looking at the Kittredge trade in the in the wake of Dominguez and Soto and Baker earlier this month. So I think there’s still a lot more of that going on than just looking at this at face value. Because say what you want about these names, and there’s some really interesting names that they came away with. I mean, especially the San Diego trade, where they send O’Hearn and Laureano. I mean, Boston Bateman, I think was the Padres number three or number four prospect. Now he’s 19 years old, so you know, he’s not exactly somebody’s gonna be making his major league debut anytime soon, but guys like him, whether they’re part of the system that they want to keep a pipeline long term. I mean, that was what Michaelia sold everyone on five years ago, right? Or will it be other guys that they now trade? And you make some trades this off season, in addition to spending money. And keep in mind, money’s come off the books with some of these deals, although I’ll point out they did throw in cash in some of these deals to kind of sweeten the return as well. So you know, if there’s a silver lining that was good to see, rather than it just being pure salary dumps across the board, if you’re looking at it from a more cynical lens, but you know, I think most of this wasn’t shocking, right? I mean, I think it was bittersweet saying goodbye to Cedric Mullins. But we’ve known for weeks that Cedric Mullins was going to be one of the players dealt right? I mean, we’ll remember him fondly. He’s, he’ll be an Orioles Hall of Famer one day. And, you know, I mean, he was one of the early faces of the rebuild. You know, you feel a certain kind of way about Ryan o’hern and Ramona reasses, two guys who came to Baltimore and complete anonymity and became really useful players for a couple playoff teams,

Nestor Aparicio  03:47

and also got him some young talent. So that’s one of the things about signing catchers and getting rid of him is, well, we we got, we got some players Soto Dominguez, they dealt for them last year from the bottom of their deck, and now got something back for them, organizational depth, whatever it would be, the money side of it. Look they thought they were going to win this year. They spent a lot of money. Mr. Rubenstein would tell you, he spent a lot of money this year that did not come back in ticket sales. It did not come back in victories. It has not come back in club seat sales or any of that. There’s been a dumped investment this year, and the notion that Ryan O’Hearn would wind up getting that like that, Santander would wind up getting $90 million and they wind up getting picks out of it. Um, these were Rule five draft picks. These were bag of beans on the side of the road that nobody wanted that. A couple of years later, you got productivity, and then you got, uh, some semblance of reward. When they left right, they get something back. So I don’t know, I mean, from an asset management top to bottom, the way Mr. Rubenstein would see Asset Managements, he’ll look around and see these 15. 16 young players and other players running around and saying, Well, we got rid of eight players from the opening day roster, right? Did I do the math? Right? Eight?

Luke Jones  05:08

No, not while counting Baker nine. I mean, you’re talking, well, I get Kittredge wasn’t on the opening day roster because he was hurt, but it was nine major leaguers that they sold off over the course of July. I mean, so, you know, you get 16 minor leaguers. And again, I still think a driving force here is going to be these guys or other players that are in their system because they’ve gotten these guys. I think you’re going to see guys moved. I mean, that’s what I’m hoping. I’m sure as heck. I’m not going to sit here and accept that it’s another rebuild, because I I don’t think it is. But, and we touched on this a little bit in our previous conversation. When you do look at the type of players, the type of prospects that they had coming back, the fact that of the 16 man, even if we want to say the threshold is that they are ready to play in the majors next year, you’re only talking about a fraction. I mean, you’re not talking, I’d say 1112, 13 of these guys are at least a couple years away. That’s where I’m looking at this and saying, Okay, first of all, that should be a tell that michaelias, I don’t think, is going anywhere at the end of the year. Again, who? Who knows? But think about it, in contrast to Dan Ducat in the 2018 trade deadline where, okay, they sold off players, but they also like Jonathan br came back, for example, he was a major league player. They brought hit, you know, and he was hung around in Baltimore for a year or so after that, you didn’t see them acquire anyone like that. So to me, that’s a sign of someone who whether he’s gotten directly a vote of confidence from ownership, or whether he’s operating under an assumption, right or wrong, that he’s going to be back and continue to be the general manager. The moves seem to reflect that. And like I said, the moves also seem to reflect, you know, that you were trying to get the best value, not necessarily guys that we’re going to help you directly for next year. And that’s where I look at this thing and say, Okay, maybe this is just more inventory for them to go out and make two or three trades this off season and and let me, let me hard set by saying I’m not sitting here saying that the these guys, that these 16 players that that came back are going to be alone enough to get you an ace and maybe a high leverage reliever or whatever, but they can be part of packages, right? And then we get into the discussion about, do they consider trading a member of the young core over the winter, you know, but your Colton the Colton cows are exercise that you and I bring up at least once in every conversation, whether it’s him or rutschman or whoever, right? I mean, who knows so So, I think that’s kind of my general first impression. You know, when you look at the nine players that they traded, the easy ones were the expiring contracts, right? We knew they were going to move Soto we knew they were going to move Dominguez. We knew they were going to move Mullins, no matter how bittersweet it feels, because he’s a homegrown player who was an all star and the successor to Adam Jones and all that. We knew they were going to move O’Hearn Morton right at the right at the deadline, right? I mean, I guess he was the type, probably the Tigers fallback plan, right? I mean, that, you know, they didn’t get they got a guy who actually looks like he’s an interesting relief prospect who maybe could be in the majors next year. It was a college draftee has pretty good numbers this year, not ready to pitch in the majors just yet. But, you know, I probably, and I wasn’t alone in this. I probably overestimated what Morton’s value would be. Not that I thought they were going, Yeah, didn’t think they’re going to get anything crazy for him. But, you know, the return was a little more modest. But hey, you got something a little bit, I assume, a little bit of what’s owed to him comes off the books, although they did send a little cash in that deal as well. And you know, maybe you got someone who’s a bullpen arm for you the second half of next year, who’s interesting in that way, Oriana is interesting to give him what? And I was just gonna say, I was just gonna say, Well, they didn’t give them away. I mean, they traded them, you know, they packaged him with O’Hearn, and they got six players from the Padre system. And obviously the Padres were one of the big stories, I mean, the Mason Miller deal, but was just massive, right? We talked about that last year deadline here, yeah, but, but we talked, and we talked about how, how rarely you see a team trade a guy that was widely regarded as a top five prospect in all of baseball, and they dealt him in that, in that trades, but, but even with that, I mean, the the Orioles in the deal for Oh Hearn and Laureano. They got the Padres number four prospect, their number six prospect, their number 12 prospect, and their number 29 prospect, and then two other guys for a rental and for Laureano, who, yeah, was there. I don’t know. I don’t want to say it was surprising, because we talked about the possibility, but it wasn’t a fait accomplice. Like the other five guys that I mentioned, he was the guy where he said, Hey, you got to be, you need to be getting back something that you think is worth it, because, hey, he’s got a team option for next year in what was it? Bitterly disappointing, poor off season. Laureano was easily the best signing, right? I mean, he was a great signing for what, $4,000,000.04 and a half million dollars, whatever it

Nestor Aparicio  10:21

was, and the Padres have identified, the Padres have identified him as a veteran

Luke Jones  10:24

piled diver, as a guy that’s gonna help them make a, you know, make a playoff run, and that he also will be in their picture for next year. So, so that’s where I think, you know, if you had told me the Orioles would dealt nine players, you know, if we were talking about this six weeks ago, because we were talking about the likelihood of this six weeks ago, two months ago. I mean, that’s how bad the season has been. You know, if you told me nine players, I wouldn’t have necessarily guessed that four of them were guys that were either under club control for next year or carried a team option for next year. You know, when we’re talking Baker, talking arrious, Kittredge and, of course, Laureano. To me, I think Arias, we touched on this in our previous conversation. I think for what he was and what he was making, and where the role has changed. You know, a couple years ago, Arias, even if he wasn’t necessarily an everyday starter, he was your fifth starter, right? And they played five guys in the infield, or, you know, throwing Mateo played six guys in the infield semi regularly. His role was changing right now, Westbrook has to stay healthy. These infielders have to stay healthy. But I think it was clear that in an ideal scenario, Ramona RIAs wasn’t going to play three or four times a week anymore, right? And I think we were starting to see that over the last month even. So, when you look at it through that lens, they do have some guys at triple A that I think fit the mold of utility types. And you know, who knows who we’re going to see. I mean, another interesting factor to this Nestor, is they’re going to be playing a series at Wrigley this weekend, Friday afternoon. They’ve got six roster spots to fill. So, you know, I assume mount Castle coming off the i l is going to be one of those, and he’ll take o’ Hern spot, and Kobe mayo, and him will handle first base in D, H most days. You know, I think that’s what we’re going this is going to be like a spring training roster. The rest is gonna be strange. Yeah. I mean, there’s gonna be a lot of evaluation going on. And you know what, we’re Dylan beavers watches on whether it’s now or soon. Samuel bisayo, watch is obviously on whether it’s, you know, probably not now, but sometime in August. And you know, we’re gonna, we’re gonna see about some of these other guys. We talked about some of these relievers. I mean, look, I’m not going to sit here and buffalo. You would try to blow smoke and say that man, I really love Wolfram and I really love K Stroud and Elvin Rodriguez and Houston Roth and Corbin Martin, but maybe one or two of those guys shows enough where you say hey, as my seventh or eighth man in the bullpen, I’ll take them to spring training and and write their name in pencil, because they did a heck of a job the last two months, right? You know, maybe we’ll see some other guys in that mix. I mean, I assume now, with Morton being out of the rotation, and, you know, we’ll get to effing in a moment, because I think there’s some interesting discussion there. But Young’s back in the rotation because effluent is on the IL again. But you know, we’re going to see K Povich back in the rotation, right for the time being, at least, you know, and we’ll see that be the five, because Sagano is still there. Obviously Trevor Rogers is now the, you know, it kind of had become the de facto ace anyway, right? I mean, with how well he’s picked, dude,

Nestor Aparicio  13:35

stop that you just said Trev, a year to the day that they Delta ace, de facto ace. De facto ace is a dip. But hey, well, where’s numbers? The last eight or nine starts

Luke Jones  13:45

off, right? I mean, you, and part of that is also these next two months. Does he continue that? Now he’s not going to continue a one and a half era. I think we all understand that. But can he continue to look the part of go facts? I don’t know. I don’t know where I’m going to slot them, and I don’t really need have this need to go 12345, because, I mean, I don’t know who the five are, let alone,

Nestor Aparicio  14:08

right? I just need to count to five next April. That’s all they need to do. You have to convince me there

Luke Jones  14:13

are five, and I feel good enough about him being in that five. And right now, Kate

Nestor Aparicio  14:17

Povich isn’t one of them, but eight weeks from now, he might be right, and that’s how this works. I mean, right now, right now. Bradish isn’t one of them, till I see it Sure, Rodriguez isn’t one of them, even though they dream it.

Luke Jones  14:29

I think there’s one guy that you’d have enough conviction to say that he’s one of them. Dean Kramer, I mean, you, and that’s not to say he’s going to be your opening day starter, or you want him to be, but that’s about the only known commodity right now that has a track record to say, okay, he’s going to be one of the five most likely. So you hope you have enough options that maybe you can push them out at some point. But that’s that, that’s the reality. But, you know, I just think on the pitching side, look, it’s going to be ugly. Be, it’s gonna be ugly a lot of nights, and they’re gonna, they’re probably not going to, you know, they’re, what, nine games under 500 right now. I mean, they’re gonna have to really, really hit the ball to do anything close to keeping up that, even that pace for the rest of the year, right? I mean, I think that’s just the reality. But you do have different arms, new names. Bradish will be returning if all goes well in the next three and a half.

Nestor Aparicio  15:30

Well, dude, the old names to put them in last place, like, well, and that’s part of it too. Like, you know, and that’s, I’m not married to the 25 roster or the 23 or 24

Luke Jones  15:39

and that’s part of what and look, I think so much of this just stems from fans just being frustrated and ticked off, and they have every right to be. This

Nestor Aparicio  15:48

season is easily, if not, the most disappointing in franchise history. It’s easily one of the I don’t know, what could be more disappointing, being last place when you should have been a contender. I mean, like that has never happened in all the years I’ve been a radiator because Angelo’s assured that they would suck every year. We never had any hope around here. This certainly felt differently. That’s all,

Luke Jones  16:08

yeah. And, I mean, obviously you can go, I mean, like 1967 for example, they’re coming off of a World Series. They went 76 and 85 I mean, that was disappointed. But it’s a different era, different game, right? I mean, different business model, all that. So it’s right up there, if it’s not the the absolute worst, right? Not the, not worst, most disappointing, right? I mean, obviously they’ve had worse seasons in terms of wins and losses, but, but they, they’ve, they’ve got to take this time now to find out and to evaluate and, you know, okay, you’ve set you decided Ramon Laureano. You wanted to pair him with Ryan O’Hearn and sweeten the pot with a deal with San Diego. That’s fine, but now you’ve got another question there. I mean, that was my thing about Kittredge. It’s not that I think Andrew Kittredge is this amazing reliever that they couldn’t afford to lose. I mean, you know, part of the part of what hurt them early in the season was he was unavailable for two months, right? It hurt their bullpen early on, so, but it’s another item to add to the grocery list. I mean, right now they’re outfield Colton cows are going to play center field every day, I think, because I think they want to really evaluate and see what that looks like. Say what you want about his offensive profile, and look, I want to see him walk more. I mean, people talk about the strikeouts, and I’ll hear that, but the walk rate is cratered, and that’s that’s a way bigger problem to me than than the strikeout, the swing and miss. So, but he’s going to play center field. I assume we’re going to see Dylan beavers at some point in time. Now he can play center as well. So maybe he plays there a little bit more. You know, they’re going to look at Dylan Carlson. I mean, he’s, he’s on the roster right now. He’s going to play some so we’re going to kind of see what that looks like. So there, there’s going to be some evaluation there that, you know, they might need to go out and make another signing like Ramon Laureano this past winter, and hope for the best in that regard. Or maybe they, maybe they aim higher, I don’t know, but you’re looking at that, obviously they’re going to be evaluating mayo. They’re going to be evaluating basayo, assuming he arrives at some point in time here over the next month. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  18:15

they’re also hoping that they’re big five all, yeah, like see better from them. Hit 300 hit some doubles, it’s some home runs. Play good defense. Look the part of first round draft. Look the part of a core that can help this team win a championship. Yeah, well,

Luke Jones  18:33

and that’s all part of the hard truth of this. And you’ve heard me talk about this. I mean, going back to April and May, I was talking about some of my disappointment. I mean, Adley rutschman’s been a a major target for the disappointment over the last calendar year, right? Because he hasn’t played anywhere close to where he was in 2023 or the first half of 24 or even going back to his rookie year. But I think part of the hard truth here, and I don’t think Tony mancellino Is the guy to deliver this message. But if the Orioles had, I don’t, a younger version of Buck Showalter as their manager at the moment, you know what the message would kind of be, and I’m going to go a little wrestling on you here. You know this little part promo, but also hard truth, guys, look around the clubhouse right now. You know, look around this roster right now, look at who’s all gone now, you know, go back to last year. Austin Hayes is gone. Anthony Santander is gone. You know, don’t tell him that. Brian mountcastle is probably going to be non tendered or traded this winter. I’m guessing

Nestor Aparicio  19:32

he would have been gone and he had any value.

Luke Jones  19:35

Yeah, because if he hadn’t been hurt and all that, I’m guessing, I don’t know this, so I’m not going to try to bake that. I have some kind of tip here or anything. I’m guessing the Orioles asked around a little bit to see if anyone would take them, take them off their hands for a couple 17 year old Dominican lottery tickets or something like that, right? I mean, but that didn’t happen. But to the young court, look around, guys. What? Left, you guys like you’re left, and I hate to break it to you, but you’ve got to own your part of this for 2025 as well. You know, no disrespect to you know, injuries stink, but availability is part of the game, and you guys need to be productive. You know, you’re not all in holiday aside, maybe. And he’s the one who’s had the least problem, right? I mean, he’s been the one where, you’d say, all year the arrow trended up, but you guys have underperformed. It’s been disappointing. You know, Adley rutschman, you’re, you’re 27 years old now. Gunner Henderson, you haven’t had a bad year, certainly not a bad year in a vacuum. But where’s the guy that was the MVP candidate the first half of last year? You know where the home runs gone? I’ve already mentioned. Colton cowser, what’s happened to the approach at the plate? You’re not drawing any walks anymore, in addition to swinging and missing as much as you do, you know Westberg, we love you, man, but you just got to stay on the field, you know? I mean, he’s performed. Look at his numbers. I think his numbers over a full season, you’d be perfectly fine with where Jordan westburg is right now. I think, you know, Kobe mayo, the time is now for you. So you kind of look at this thing and say, Guys, look at each other. You’re all you’ve got right now, the veteran, you know, the the Mullins, Santander, Austin, Hayes, kind of tier of guys, they’re gone now. So it’s going to be up to you and look and look, front office needs to do a heck of a lot of work this off season. This isn’t all on you, let’s be clear, but you’ve got to own the part that you’ve got to own. And you guys underperformed, and that’s one of the reasons why a lot of those guys that you might like aren’t here anymore. So, you know, I that that for me, these next two months, I want to see those guys perform, and obviously the the big focus is going to be on the completely unproven, like mayo and Messiah when He arrives, beavers when he arrives. But you know, that’s not to say that Adley rutchman Still doesn’t need to get something out of these next two months. You know, even, even if it’s even if you’re of the thought that rebuild your value and maybe, maybe the Orioles entertain.

Nestor Aparicio  22:21

Where are you with him? By the way? What do you have anything to say about him with sentence or two?

Luke Jones  22:25

I mean, it’s so tough. I mean, he obviously is hurt not I don’t want to pick on someone who’s on the IL but, man, I want to see the guy who was a couple years ago not saying, and that guy wasn’t going to win an MVP, but he was still really, really valuable to the point where he drew some MVP votes, you know, further down the list. But I want to see that guy again. You know, I’m going to see the guy that’s a doubles machine. And, you know, in fairness, Monday night, his first game back, he had a couple

Nestor Aparicio  22:54

doubles. You said he wasn’t going to win an MVP but, I mean, he’s he, he’s Buster Posey on that day, right? I mean, on the day he’s supposed to be right,

Luke Jones  23:02

at the very least, I’d like him to be the perennial all star that we thought he was going to be. I mean, the guy that he’s been over the last year is, you know, more league average and just fine. I mean, his defense has been better this year than it was second half of last year, so that was good to see. His offense hasn’t been as bad this year as it was the second half of last year. But man, talking, that’s some really, that’s a really low bar that I’m referencing there. So, you know, I want to see Adley rutschman, one stay healthy the rest of the year and look more like Adley rutschman. And we talked about this when he got hurt. June had been his best month he had had in a really long time at the plate, you know, Gunner Henderson, I want to, want to see the power i I still wonder, and this isn’t an excuse, but I think it’s reality. Because you and I talked about this back in March, he had a rib cage issue. I’m not saying he’s not healthy in that he’s playing full blown hurt, but when you have an injury to your core like that, in the midst of ramping up for a season and even cutting in the beginning of your season. I wouldn’t be shocked to hear the reality that it zapped him of his power some and maybe the the idea is, hey, get through the rest of the off season. You have a healthy off season. Can strength train a little bit more, get some of your strength back and and he’s back to hitting 35 home runs next year, right? I mean, well, that’s the

Nestor Aparicio  24:20

thing with, like, even Tyler O’Neill that, like, if you could squeeze 120 healthy games out of him next year, he might hit 30 Oh. I mean, he’s gonna be here, right?

Luke Jones  24:29

I mean, they’re not gonna be able to trade them. And, and I’m not, I see people, no, they’re not gonna DFA. I’m and, no, they shouldn’t DFA him. Now, if he’s, if he’s not hitting a year from this. Chris Davis, yeah, right. I mean, he hit 30. They signed him to be, honestly, they signed him to be the guy that he’s looked like over the last week, which is, he’s hit home runs and what four straight games that he had played and kind of has looked like the guy you thought he might be. Now that said, I’m not just saying, Oh, well, he. My cleanup hitter next year, right? I mean, I’m not saying that at all, but the point is, and we saw this with this played out with Morton, right? I mean, Morton was a disaster, absolute disaster. The first six weeks of the season. After that, he was quite good. Now, not saying that makes up for it, or that set that gives Mike Elias a check mark that, hey, that was a good signing. No, you have to look at the whole body of work. But the point is, just because Tyler O’Neill, year one has been a disaster, or four months into Year One has been a total disaster, that doesn’t mean that Trevor Rogers was a disaster. I’m glad you said it. You just took the words right out of my mouth. Trevor Rogers, even two months ago, three months ago, we were saying, What an absolute disaster. And that’s even acknowledging like Kyle Stowers being a stud in Miami this year. But that trade, even if you’re never going to win it, if Kyle Stowers, if this is truly who he is for the next for the next five or six years, yeah, the Orioles lost that trade, there’s no doubt about it. But if Trevor Rogers can be a really useful piece of the rotation the rest of this year and next year, and then you see what happens after that. Because, you know, he’ll be a free agent whether you resign them or what,

Nestor Aparicio  26:08

you know, part of that is neither one of these teams are winning the World Series this year, probably next year, either. So like, you know, these are just pieces and they’re parts, and they’re all subject to how they taste today, you know. And Trevor Rogers smells real good today. Heston curse that does not Kyle Stowers does. Adley ruchman doesn’t. If you would have told me that Kyle Stowers would be the better player in the summer of 2025 you would have convinced me of that last May,

Luke Jones  26:37

would have set up. Said it was nuts. So you never, you don’t know anything. Look, and I we touched on this,

Nestor Aparicio  26:44

and I told you that Bradish and Rodriguez were, if I that night when they were trying to throw me out of Arlington, which is what, 21 months ago, I would have told you that night that Rodriguez and Bradish were just not going to get the post, you know, just not going to get there, just not going to make it to the mound like you would have not believed that, you know that, that that would have been, that they just lost Batiste at the time. They hadn’t dreamed of burns. I mean, they’ve been through a lot of chops well, and they’ve been through a lot of players, a lot of pitchers, a lot of chances, lot of Morton’s, lot of Suarez is a lot of saganos, lot of, you know, just a lot of it, and Dean Kramer still upright, and this is where I will slightly, slightly, because I want to make, I don’t want this to come across that I’m a michaelias apologist. Because I think you know that I’m not. I I’ve been critical of him at times, going back two or three years ago, right? I mean, he’s he’s not perfect, and, boy, the pressure is on. I mean, his seat should be on fire this off season, that he’s got to fix this thing, or then he should be gone. I mean, it’s just that simple. But I think we can go back to last off season.

Luke Jones  27:53

How many people wanted to resign? Corbin burns. Tommy John surgery has been gone since what may, whatever May or June, whatever it was, they would have been in big trouble, right? And and you’d be facing the prospects of not having them next year or most of next year. Anthony Santander, plenty of Orioles fans, wanted to resign him. He’s been a total bust in year one with Toronto. It almost, you know, as bad as Tyler O’Neill for the Orioles in year one. Um, I’ll throw myself under the bus here. I talked a lot about what was the guy who was the guy that I wanted them to take a flyer on. I’ll be at an expensive one Walker Bueller, go look at what his era is for the Red Sox. He hasn’t been very good. Blake Snell has made two starts all year long, right? So there are scenarios that Orioles fans and pundits clamored for loudly, that you could argue the Orioles would be in just as big of a mess, and maybe tied, locked down and tied to more money, you know, long term, locked into with some of some of the other scenarios. I mean, it’s just sometimes, it’s it happens in baseball, and this, it’s not to absolve everyone. Sometimes you just have a lost year. I mean, we’ve seen it with the Ravens. Even on occasion, 2015 comes to mind. 2021 comes to mind. They were so injured. And you know, you get one too many injuries to the wrong position. And before you know it, you’re, you’re losing games to the browns, right? You’re, you’re falling apart. So again, it’s not to excuse them, and it’s not to excuse bad decisions that Mike Elias made, or things that he didn’t do, that he needed to do, but it is a full recognition of things can snowball, and sometimes things don’t go the way you plan. And you can even have plans that you really like on paper. You know that that lots of fans would have preferred the Orioles to do, and those things wouldn’t have worked out so. But we touched on this briefly, and, you know, not, not that we gave a whole lot of oxygen to taking three out of four from the Blue Jays. Because, you know, I mean, obviously the all focus is on the trade deadline, but you. Nestor, where were the Blue Jays a year ago? They they were in complete disarray. We were talking about the Blue Jays in the Wade we’re talking about the Orioles right now. Blue Jays are in first place, but they’re

Nestor Aparicio  30:11

pitching blossom. They’re hitting came to life. They’re young players. They had young players come back and you know what if Westberg and ruchman and Anderson looked the part of all stars for the first three months next year, and they get some pitching. They’re gonna need pitching, dude. The end of the day, they’re gonna need pitch.

Luke Jones  30:28

This is not me saying

Nestor Aparicio  30:30

everything is fine. They have a lot, a lot, a lot of work last place team, until you tell me different, and they booked the part now, like now that they’ve been gutted like a fish.

Luke Jones  30:40

Oh, sure, yeah, but, but to your point, they were, they were in last place with those guys. And five of those guys were on expiring deals, and couple other guys, you know, Brian Baker, did you, I mean, have you seen Brian Baker’s numbers for the for the raise? I think his era is like nine or 10. I mean, he’s really struggled. I saw Soto give one up for the Mets the other night. I mean, you know, it’s the these aren’t core players, right? I mean, the closest you can argue was, you know, Laureano, because of the team option, arrheas had another year. But I mean, these aren’t, these aren’t the guys that are the defining variables of whether you’re going to win the World Series next year. Forget that just be back in playoff contention next year, right? So, but the Blue Jays last year, they were 74 and 88 everyone wanted to fire John Snyder, you know, everyone was questioning their front office. Remember, they had had, you know, they were the kept being the runner up. You know, they were considered the runner up for Ohtani and all of that. But, you know, they were bad last year, and everyone kind of thought, wow. Everyone thought the Blue Jays three years before that, or four years before that, were going to be the next big thing in the same way we thought about the Orioles two years ago. And, you know, it fell apart, but they were able to put it back together. So that’s going to be the challenge for Mike Elias. I mean, good luck. There’s a lot to do, not saying it’s impossible, because they do have a lot to work with here in terms of young talent that either will get better or are potentially some guys that you can trade. And they’ve, you know, they’ve replenished their minor league inventory. Their system looks better, certainly, now than it did two months ago, let’s say, and we’re going to see how this plays out. He’s going to have to be aggressive. He’s going to have to take some chances. And you know what? In a general sense, they’re going to have to get lucky in some ways, in the way, in the same fashion that they were unlucky in some ways this year. When you look at the fact that, you know, they’ve had, what a an entire roster worth of players that have spent time on the IL this year. I mean, there’s only so much planning you can do for that, right? I mean, you get to the point where next man UPS a t shirt slogan after a while, and that’s not to say they shouldn’t look at their strength and conditioning and their training and all these different things that might explain or might be able to curtail some of that, you know, whether they need to make some adjustments and some changes in that way. But you know that there’s, I’ve said it, I’m not going to change now. I certainly, you know, there’s nothing about this trade deadline that drastically changes my mind about this. There is a pathway for them to absolutely get back on track next year and be a a team that’s, you know, we’re seeing. It doesn’t take much to be in the wild card race,

Nestor Aparicio  33:26

right? I mean, could they be 10 games over 500 the rest of the way with this mess? I don’t know. I don’t think so. They’ve left themselves what you know, they’re not going to win games the rest of the way. And even if gunner Henderson hits 321 and let me be clear.

Luke Jones  33:41

I was I’m referring to next year, right? I’m referring to when I say, get

Nestor Aparicio  33:45

back. I’m just saying like what they’re going to look like the next eight weeks, so that we can have confidence through it. Next year looks like it’s going to be very inventory related in regard to is Bradish back? Where is Rodriguez with a knife? What happened to Batista this week, where you know all of the guys, you know, like all the guys they Where’s mayo? Is he a guy they’re gonna put in the lineup next year? Are they gonna curse that?

Luke Jones  34:10

I don’t know. Yeah. I mean, yeah, there’s gonna be a lot of that. And you know that part of it is going to feel very rebuild era esque, because I know not everyone was paying attention back then, but in 2021 you could see Cedric Mullins is going to be a guy for them for the next five years. You could see it because he was playing at that kind of level. I mean, I I’ve been very encouraged by what I’ve seen from Kobe Mayo the last week or so. When they’ve been playing them, they’re got

Nestor Aparicio  34:36

$100 million contract that, you know, it came from nowhere, right? Literally,

Luke Jones  34:41

yeah. I mean, Rhino Hearn, like Rhino Hearn, they got for cash, right? They’re going to need to continue to do those types of things. I mean, Ramona RIAs was playing in the Mexican league. I mean this, he talked about a guy that was a complete unknown, and he ended up being a really useful player for the better part of five years. Uh, so they they need to continue to do those things as well, and they will, because, you know, the smartest general managers and front offices love to do those things because that shows, shows off how smart they are. And it’s good business, right? Because they’re minimum, no risk and potential, at least moderate reward when, when you have guys like that. So, so, you know, the rest of this, the rest of the season, is going to be very, at times painful, but I also think it’s going to be really interesting in some ways. I certainly am very much looking forward to seeing besides, oh, very much. Looking forward to seeing Mayo every day. I’m looking forward to seeing Dylan beavers. I want to see what Colton cowser looks like in center field every day. I want to see what Colton cows are looks like at the plate the rest of the the way. Because, man, he needs to get back on track. We’ve talked about Richmond. I mean, Henderson, Westbrook, just stay healthy and be on the field and play, you know, on the pitching side. I mean, Bradish, Tyler wells. You know, Tyler Wells. I’m not at all convinced that he’s going to be in their rotation next year, but I think he, if he’s healthy, I think he could be a nice bullpen piece for them, but that’s a huge if, right? I mean, you’re talking about a guy who’s, he’s had multiple elbow surgeries in his career. I mean, so that’s a little bit of

Nestor Aparicio  36:15

them waiting three years on him. I these guys that that are hurt, I don’t, yeah, I just don’t know what to say about it. No,

Luke Jones  36:22

I understand that. But at the same time, that’s how you have to look at all pictures, though, right? I mean, in the modern era, sure, Corbin Burns was durable until he’s not anymore. Garrett Cole was really durable until he’s not anymore. I mean, every team deals with that. That’s why you better have inventory, and you better stock up. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence, when you look at the what, the 16 players that, the that the Orioles acquired, you know, 16 minor league players, 11 were pitchers. You know, we’ve seen the last, I’ve said it the last couple drafts, even going back before this year, it’s not been first round guys, right? Hasn’t been second round, but they have drafted more pitchers. It doesn’t mean that it’s fixed. No, of course not, but when you have more of an inventory, that means you have more flexibility than to make moves like the Orioles did two winters ago when they dealt off DL Hall and Joey Ortiz, who were not at any point viewed as Jackson holiday or as Samuel Visio, and yet they got Corbin burns for them. So I’m not saying they’re gonna be able to pull off a deal exactly like that again, but having more minor league inventory now, they should have the ability and the flexibility and the wherewithal to be able to pull off a couple moves. Now it might involve trading a Colton cowser Or a Dylan beavers or an Adley Rutger, who the heck knows, right? I mean, again, we’re spitballing here when, when you’re having the kind of of a disaster.

Nestor Aparicio  37:56

Hey, dude, if they wanted Mason Miller, would you know what I’m saying? Like, that’s the kind of thing. Like, I don’t know if they take Adley Richmond in that kind of a deal, but that that’s the kind of stuff you’re gonna have to get, give up and have to just look at it. I mean, look, and let’s be clear, you have to give to get and that’s why I mentioned Colton cows would begin. It doesn’t, and

Luke Jones  38:14

that doesn’t have to and, and that’s not the only way that they’re going to be able to do it, because they do have a lot of money coming off the books. They did spend a lot of money, albeit only committed for 2025 money, but it was a lot nonetheless. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  38:28

they don’t have anybody coming up the way Mullins was going to cost the money. Or mount Castle tender guys, you know, arbitration guys, they don’t Dean Kramer will get a little bit of money, right? Yeah.

Luke Jones  38:39

I mean, you know, and that’s why I said mount castle. You know, considering where he’s going to be last year of his arbitration, probably is a non tender or a trade for, you know, you’re, you’re what you’re hoping for with Ryan mountcastle. And look, this would not come at the expense of Kobe mayo. You’re hoping Ryan mountcastle looks somewhat like the old Ryan mountcastle Over the last two months. And you probably you use him as part of a package for a pitcher, or whatever it might be. So you know, there are a lot of possibilities here. And let’s be clear, I’m not talking in terms of wins and losses, because I’m guessing it’s going to be way more ugly than pretty for the most part. But the individual evaluations, individual performers. Like I said, you know, my little wrestling promo that I cut on the the young core, you know, I want to see those guys step up. Those guys need to become leaders now, right? I mean, Cedric Mullins was a leader. Ryan O’Hearn was a leader, you know, and I’m not saying that they were leaders in the same vein of like what Frank Robinson did for the Orioles when he arrived in 1966 but they were veteran players that younger guys look to now. It’s like, hey, Adley rutchman, Gunner Henderson, like, You guys aren’t gunner still, you know, gunner’s 24 you know, I don’t want to make it out, but Adley Rutgers, 27 like, that’s not young at all in baseball. All terms anymore, right? I mean, I don’t want to hear that excuse like, Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  40:03

I saw him on the post game. Just the whole body language, just, oh, he his,

Luke Jones  40:08

his interactions with the media, I don’t think is the most accurate way to portray how he might interact with his teammates, but, but yeah. I mean, we talked about, hey, we talked about this last it’s not inspiring. That’s fine. I’m have I been inspired? Talking about this team in a long time? I haven’t been you know Laureano was a guy in his short time was kind of viewed as Hey. So let me be clear, just because they’ve cleared the deck and they’ve created runway for their young guys, and that’s a good thing to play out the rest of the season like the season they’re having. I mean, what? What was Ryan O’Hearn finishing out the year with the Orioles going to do? Right? I mean, what was Cedric Mullins going to do finishing out the year with the Orioles? Right? I mean, presumably you’re not, you know, you’re not ex you weren’t going to extend Mullins. I mean, maybe there’s a scenario where they resign o’ Hearn at the right price. Sure. I’m not going to dismiss it. Is it likely? Probably not. But at the same time, you want to evaluate these young guys from that standpoint too. And I still would say, you know, this isn’t going to be that you just line up nine young core players as far as your position guys, and you’re going to be done with it. They need to go get a bat of some sort. And I’m hoping it’s someone who has some veteran quality to them, you know, I mean, in some way, right? It doesn’t need to be necessarily the biggest rah rah guy in the world, but someone who’s going to bring credibility. We’ve talked about this with the manager, whoever the manager is going to be. I’m hoping it’s someone that’s going to bring some credibility in a way that, no disrespect but Tony mancellino doesn’t bring as a rookie manager, who’s the third base coach playing the manager the rest of the way, right? So that’s going to be important. The coaching staff, who, who they fill out to be in their coaching staff, that’s going to be important, right? I mean, there’s a lot to do. I mean, there’s still a big transplant? Oh, absolutely. This is a heavy undertaking that Mike Elias has here, and I don’t feel sorry for him. He made his bed. He’s got to sleep in it now, right? I mean, there were missteps, sure. Was there bad luck in some things that you couldn’t foresee, no question. But they’ve got to adjust. And if he doesn’t,

Nestor Aparicio  42:20

then the margin for error when you’re spending money is different than with the Dodgers and the Yankees. It always has been,

Luke Jones  42:25

always has been, right? And even, even if you felt the Orioles were spending to a level that was the most they could spend to being reasonable, right, it still wouldn’t be anywhere close to those teams. So, yeah, you got to be smart, right? We’ve talked

Nestor Aparicio  42:42

about that your Richmond’s in your Hendersons and your holidays have to be as advertised,

Luke Jones  42:47

sure. All of no question, no. I mean not all of them, in the sense that you know that not every top 100 prospect pans out, but when you have seven or eight or nine of those guys, five or six of them better be really, really good. Then, right? If only two of them are, then you’re looking at

Nestor Aparicio  43:07

this being you can’t buy enough Tyler. Then you’re talking about it. Well, especially when you don’t have the pitching right off the bat, they don’t have the pitching, they just don’t. And

Luke Jones  43:16

that’s where, that’s why I focus on the young core, from the standpoint of saying, if they’re, if they end up not being as good as advertised, and we’re talking a year from now in similar terms about this young core, then they will be, at some point, they will be re entering a rebuild, because that doesn’t add up, right?

Nestor Aparicio  43:41

There are no they can’t win 79 games next year. And, you know, continue and flutter around and be eight games under 500 at the All

Luke Jones  43:53

Star without making changes, I mean, and let’s be clear, there are different ways you arrive to that. Now, the young core could be playing really well, and Elias completely screwed the pooch from a pitching standpoint again. Then that, then that becomes

Nestor Aparicio  44:09

screwing the pooch with the pitching like this is not going to be easy to do. Oh, I understand, even with an open checkbook, if he could sign the three best pitchers in the market in the off season to unlimited deals. I still don’t know that they’d have

Luke Jones  44:22

enough pitching up. Sure, and that’s fair. But you know what I’d say to that? Well, should have capitalized two years ago way more at the deadline than you did. Should have capitalized way more than you did a year and a half ago than you ended up doing. Well, scuba was available at one point, but it was holiday. That’s how this works. Sure. I mean, you know, and it’s funny, I’ve heard different things from Detroit reporters. I mean, some have said he was available. Some have said, Nah, no, not even, but regardless, it’s water under the bridge. Now, Len

Nestor Aparicio  44:50

henick told me he was available, and he’s covered the the Tigers for 60

Luke Jones  44:55

years, but that’s but my point with that is, you know, and this is. Are we talk this is where people get so cynical and where they don’t trust these rebuild plans, because there is always a path of messaging to kind of throw, have the carrot out in front saying, Hey, we’re another year or two away. I mean, the pirates have been doing that for since they’ve sold off Barry Bonds. I mean, that’s really where the pirates have been over all that time. Hey, you know, we got a five year plan. We got the

Nestor Aparicio  45:26

Padres and the mariners. You know, they’re just the Indians. Indians been better than that. But, yeah, I mean, it, it’s, it’s hard the Brewers, it’s hard to climb, but

Luke Jones  45:37

you but that’s where, when you have a when you’re in a spot like the Orioles were in two years ago, and end of in their defense, they did go get Corbin burns, right? They couldn’t necessarily foresee what was going to happen with Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez last year, and now that bleeds into the A year later, with burns gone. But they

Nestor Aparicio  46:00

could have seen Kimbrell comes. You, you need, you could have seen Charlie Morton coming. There’s some of this you could see. And say, if you, if you recall, I remember the day they signed to Baldo Jimenez. And I’m like, I see that coming,

Luke Jones  46:15

the Kimbrell thing. You know, I wasn’t enamored with that from Jump Street. Now, I didn’t think it would end as badly as it did. I didn’t think, I didn’t think, I didn’t think it’d be so bad that he wouldn’t make it through the season, but, but my point with that, and we’ve talked, we’ve talked about this with the ravens, even, right, it’s real easy to talk in terms of, oh, we’re a year ahead. You know, this team’s window is wide open. Those things can change really quickly, and sometimes, Lamar is almost 30, and look, I mean, he’s he’s 28 you know he’s going to be great for a long time, but you don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know if, heaven forbid, some offensive lineman falls into his knee during a joint practice or something, right? I mean, you never really know. That’s why you don’t want when you are within striking distance like the Orioles were a couple years ago. You know, looking back, man, it really hurts, because now you’re very much fearing that that was the high water mark at the time. You’re thinking, wow, this is the beginning of something really, really special. You and I talked about it last June, thinking like, oh my gosh, is this going to be one of the all time great Orioles clubs? And we’ve seen what’s happened in the 13 months since then, and how drastically it’s changed. So, man, when the when the iron is hot, you’ve got to strike. You’ve got to take advantage. And hopefully that is a lesson that Mike Elias takes from what’s happened here as he tries to reload and revamp and tweak and get this thing back on the tracks, that if the Orioles are in a position a year from now or two years from now where things are looking really up again, boy, they better take advantage, because this has really been painful to go through. I mean, it really is. And you know, the guys that are left in that clubhouse feel that way right now, too, and but everyone’s got to take blame for it, starting with the general manager, and overwhelmingly the general manager, because the buck stops with him. But, you know, we’re going to see how this plays out. It’s going to be very, very interesting. But again, my overall takeaway, just to put a bow on the trade deadline, is looking at these 16 players that they acquired. I think it’s way more about looking at that as part of a greater inventory that they now have in the minor leagues. That it’s time to go make some trades, you know, yeah, sign some free agents as well. Absolutely do do all the things that you’ve done, you know, diamonds in the rough, minor league signings, all that. Go find another. Albert Suarez, great. I’m not saying don’t do that, but boy, there’s some heavy lifting that needs to be done, and you hopefully now have more resources to make some impact trades. Go out and sign some free agents. Hope that the young core improves, hope that you stay healthy and report to Sarasota next February, hoping to put 2025 behind you. Because, man, it’s been a nightmare, and what was inevitable for the last two months all came to a head and became official with the deadline, with the Orioles selling off the rest of what was nine total veterans that they traded. Sold

Nestor Aparicio  49:18

off a Sir Anthony for a Boston and a whole bunch of other name soup guys that you could find out at Baltimore positive our websites back up. It was down for like 10 minutes on Thursday night. It is all the gerbils in. The hamsters are running in the cages, and everything is cool. He is Luke, you can find in Baltimore, Luke. He’ll be out knowing smells, doing Raven stuff all weekend as we get ready for fake football next week, I can’t wait. We had it on the television on Thursday, that little fake football as well to get the party started. It’s football season. It’s sort of baseball off season. In season, they’re sort of solidified in the last place, which means for our 27th Anniversary that begins on Sunday. We’ll be eating for the month. That’s what we do. When they lose we eat. We’re nervous about the Ravens we eat. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery, how the lucky sevens, doublers, as well as the pressure Lux to give away our friends at Curia wellness. I have my curio wellness shirt on on the interwebs, uh, celebrating 27 years. Career wellness is our presenting sponsor, and we’re going to be out on the road eating my 27 favorite things, the one of them I actually ordered for carry out on Thursday night. And I was like, eating it. And I’m like, this is really, really good. So I every, every one of these items is something. When I go to eat it, I’m like, Yeah, this is on the list, and this is really high up the list. I did that it cost us two weeks ago. So we’re going to be at Beaumont on Thursday the seventh over in Catonsville. We’re going to be down in Ocean City The following week, and then at all of our sponsors from Coco’s cost us. We’re going to be all over the place at the end of the month, eating good stuff and talking about it to celebrate 27 years. And hey, get Isaiah likely healthy, keep everybody healthy out knowing Mills will play some football on September 7. So Class dismissed. Everybody go away, come back September 7 when things matter. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S, D, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stopped talking trade deadline deals in Baltimore. Positive. You.