As the heavy lifting of the offseason begins for the last-place Baltimore Orioles, the first step is complete. New manager Craig Albernaz brings plenty of fresh blood and great recommendations but as Luke Jones and Nestor point out, the players the team acquires this offseason and the maturation of a bevy of young, high-ceiling prospects will decide his fate in the dugout. It’s still baseball season in Baltimore!
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ hiring of Craig Albernaz as their new manager. Albernaz, who has no major league managerial experience, comes from the Cleveland Guardians, known for their defensive and pitching prowess. Jones praised Albernaz’s background in player development and pitching, noting his experience with the Rays and Giants. They also discussed the need for significant roster improvements, particularly in player acquisitions and trades, to boost the team’s chances in 2026. The conversation highlighted the importance of player development and the potential impact of the new manager on the fan base and community.
Orioles Managerial Hiring Announcement
- Nestor Aparicio introduces the show, mentioning the upcoming World Series and the announcement of a new Orioles manager.
- Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the timing of the announcement, noting it was made on a Sunday night after a Ravens victory.
- Luke Jones mentions the Orioles’ preference for an experienced major league manager but acknowledges the new hire, Craig Albernaz, meets some criteria.
- Nestor and Luke reflect on the lack of excitement around the new hire compared to past managers like Joe Maddon and Buck Showalter.
Craig Albernaz’s Background and Qualifications
- Luke Jones explains that Craig Albernaz is not an experienced major league manager but has a background in player development and pitching.
- Albernaz has experience with the Cleveland Guardians, Tampa Bay Rays, and San Francisco Giants, which Luke values for his developmental skills.
- Luke highlights Albernaz’s role as a minor league coach and manager, and his experience as a bullpen coach for the Giants.
- Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of Albernaz’s background in organizations like the Rays and Giants, which are known for their player development.
Orioles’ Managerial Hiring Process
- Luke Jones notes the Orioles’ tight-lipped approach to the hiring process, mentioning only a few candidates like Luis Rojas and Scott Servais.
- Luke appreciates Albernaz’s experience and the fact that he has been in the mix for other managerial openings.
- Nestor and Luke discuss the lack of a strong opinion on the hire, acknowledging the unknowns and potential for Albernaz to succeed.
- Luke emphasizes the importance of player acquisitions and trades in the Orioles’ overall strategy for success.
Challenges and Expectations for Craig Albernaz
- Nestor and Luke discuss the challenges Albernaz will face, including the need to recruit the fan base and community.
- Luke mentions the importance of Albernaz’s ability to lead young players and manage in a front-facing role.
- Nestor reflects on the need for the Orioles to make significant roster moves to improve their chances in 2026.
- Luke and Nestor agree that the success of the team will depend on the performance of young players like Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson.
Orioles’ Roster and Future Plans
- Nestor and Luke discuss the current state of the Orioles’ roster, including the need for a legitimate outfielder and first baseman.
- Luke mentions the potential for trades involving players like Koby Mayo and Ryan Mountcastle.
- Nestor and Luke reflect on the importance of the Orioles’ offseason moves in shaping the team’s future.
- Luke emphasizes the need for a balance between player development and acquiring established veterans to support the young core.
Final Thoughts and Future Outlook
- Nestor and Luke conclude the discussion by reflecting on the Orioles’ overall strategy and the importance of the upcoming offseason.
- Luke reiterates the need for the Orioles to make significant improvements in player acquisitions and trades.
- Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the new manager and coaching staff on the team’s performance.
- The conversation ends with a focus on the importance of the Orioles’ offseason moves in determining their success in 2026.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Orioles manager, Craig Albernaz, Elias leadership, World Series, player development, minor league experience, Cleveland Guardians, pitching strategy, fan base, roster moves, young players, offseason acquisitions, managerial hiring, organizational culture, player performance.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 taci, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively into a crab cake week, a World Series week. We’re gonna have a new manager here in Baltimore this week. If you’re watching out on the YouTubes in the video channel, I have my curio wellness orange, oh, on. Makes me think of summertime and that peach cake that I can’t have right now, but eggnogs around the corner as our crab cakes the Maryland crab cake tour out on the road. We’ll be at state fair on Tuesday morning in Catonsville. I have Raven scratch offs to give away. We’ll also have them next Wednesday afternoon at Coco’s pub in lauraville, and then on Friday of next week, we will be at Pizza John’s in Essex, going to honor our dude, heisty in several ways, Mr. Essex himself, although he did come over and eat a lot of crabs and Dundalk, for my guys at casas, would tell me that, you know, I don’t know what heist he would make of managerial maneuverings late night on a Sunday night after a Ravens victory. But I thought they were supposed to be quite quiet about all this to the World Series is over, Luke. I mean, I I didn’t know we were going to get managerial orange plumes of smoke over Camden Yards on a Sunday night. But lo and behold, story broke.
Luke Jones 01:17
Right. Yeah, it did, and they haven’t announced it. And part of what you said, what you alluded to, does tie in with the World Series and these leagues, generally speaking, not wanting news like that announced, trying to overshadow the World Series, which, I mean, I guess whatever already
Nestor Aparicio 01:34
had. John Harbaugh breaking all sorts of rules,
Luke Jones 01:37
right, right? But yeah, Craig albornez, who, I’m not going to sit here and say that I was wildly familiar with him, but he is someone that, for me, checks at least a few boxes from this look. Is he an experienced major league manager? No, right off the bat, he’s not. I never said that was an absolute must. Was that my preference, if it’s the right guy, right? I mean, there are plenty of retreads you can hire that aren’t going to be remotely inspiring or and as I said to you, I’m not sure anyone. I’m not sure there was a manager to be hired that was going to sell tickets, for example. I
Nestor Aparicio 02:17
mean, Joe Madden and Buck Showalter not what this guy wants. They
Luke Jones 02:22
don’t. And, I mean, you can certainly, you know, you can question whether that’s what’s best for them at this point time, maybe. And I was rooting
Nestor Aparicio 02:30
for Lou Panella myself, because I need some more excitement in my
Luke Jones 02:33
life. So, I mean, but I also go back to look, you can also look at some of the best managers in the history of the game, and they’re an unknown when they’re hired the first time. I mean, Earl Weaver was, you know, replaced became Orioles manager halfway through 68 and the rest was history, right? I
Nestor Aparicio 02:51
mean, have you read that John Miller’s book on
Luke Jones 02:53
not, yeah, that is, maybe that’s at the top of my list when football season ends and I get, you know, dude, I’m three quarters of the way through
Nestor Aparicio 03:02
Getty Lee, I’m fine. I mean, and Getty was two years. I mean, it just takes some time sometimes
Luke Jones 03:06
to read the right, yeah, yeah, sure, so, but, but I think, you know, to bring it back to Craig Albert Nestor, the things that I do, like, first and foremost, I was and, look, this sounds flippant. This sounds very disrespectful to Tony mancilino, because I think he did a perfectly fine job for what he was asked to do, which was beat to be a good caretaker and steward for a lousy lost season. Because that’s what it was in mid May already, and they played better. Did they play so much better that I was at all interested in maintaining the status quo and hiring mancilino full time, which presumably would have meant keeping most of the coaching staff in place. No, I never wanted that, right? And any idea of that to me. I mean, you want to talk about it’s one thing to talk about a managerial hire, whether it’s going to galvanize your fan base. That’s one that would have done the exact opposite. I think that would have been the wrong message. That would have reeked of we’re going to maintain the status quo. This was all Brandon Hyde’s fault, and it was all because of the injuries, right? That, to me is what the the mess, the message you would have sent to your fan base had they just kept Tony mancilino as the permanent manager. So that being said, Craig Albert Nestor is coming from the Cleveland guardians who have been in the playoffs the last couple years, who have played a brand of baseball that differs from where the Orioles are. They have been good defensively. They are generally viewed as being sound fundamentally, you know, as far as their pitching, obviously, their bullpen has been, you know, that has really driven the bus for them. On the pitching side, their offense isn’t great, necessarily, but they’ve had, you know, the Stephen Kwan. Of the world that are more contact hitters. I mean, you know, I mean, it’s tough to, like, draw a complete, you know, one for one transfer, when you’re talking about things like that. As far as just because he’s coming from Cleveland, means this guy
Nestor Aparicio 05:13
ever been interviewed in any way, like I’ve Googled, He absolutely has. Yeah, I haven’t seen a whole lot of much on anything, in any way or was, was his name known to you a week ago as a candidate? I mean,
Luke Jones 05:27
specifically to the Orioles? No. I mean, they were very tight lipped, obviously. I mean, what, what really got out about the Orioles? We know that they interviewed Luis Rojas from the Yankees. You know, former Mets got, you know, former guy for the Mets and our pool host there had been linked interest in terms of being linked to him, Scott service as well, Ryan Flaherty, had been thrown out there. But, you know, the Orioles weren’t giving daily updates, right? They weren’t saying, Oh, we have completed an interview with so and so for our managerial opening, like they they operated in the complete dark, as they are apt to do, as they’ve been apt to do, right or wrong. That’s how they do things. So I can’t say that. However. I do want to note that this is someone who’s been pretty highly regarded. I will say this. The thing I might like most about Craig albornez Is he came up in the race system. He was a minor league coach and minor league manager for the rays. Say what you want about the race from an ownership standpoint, from a payroll standpoint, but in terms of player development, in terms of how they have developed and built teams from the ground up. He’s somewhat like, I like having someone that was in that environment. We also was involved in pitching, right? Yes, you know, and he was a cat. He was a minor league. It’s funny, he kind of sounds like Brandon Hyde in some ways, in terms of, like, the background, right? Longtime minor league man or catcher who did not make it to the majors, you know, spent a lot of time in one system, and Hyde has been with the Marlins, but spent plenty of time with cubs then. But, you know, certainly Albornoz doesn’t have this extensive you know, he hasn’t been a major league coach for 15 years, but he was the bullpen coach for the Giants for four years. You know, there’s another organization that, you know, it doesn’t carry the cache that it did 15 years ago, per se, but it’s still highly thought of overall. So he’s been with three different organizations. I like the fact that there isn’t not that I’ve seen me and maybe I’m really overlooking something there isn’t an obvious link to. Oh well, we spent a lot of time with Mike Elias and sig maidal In Houston, right? There’s none of that. So for me, the thing I like is it seems like it’s someone with a fresh perspective and new eyes, and not someone that’s just an Astros person, right? So that’s where I like this look overall. Do I have a strong opinion about this in terms of saying, Wow, I think I’m over the moon about this hire, or, Oh, I think this is a bad hire. No, I don’t have a strong opinion about it, because I’m not incredibly familiar with him, but I will say he’s been in the mix for other jobs. Just last year, he was, you know, he was in the running for the Miami job. He was in the running for the White Sox job. He was actually, and I thought this was interesting. He was actually a finalist for Cleveland’s job before Stephen Vogt got it. And then he was hired to be the bench coach so and then he was what associate manager this past year. So one year in, they gave him a title, and part of that was he’s been ported. He’s been a name of interest among teams that have been looking for managers. So look, do I know if this is going to work? I have no idea, Nestor. I’m not going to sit here and say this is a great hire, or that this was a bad hire. There are things about it I like. There are things about it that are unknown, like the fact that he’s not someone who has major league managerial experience. Is that a prerequisite for someone to be successful? Well, if that were the case, then there were, there would be no managers, good managers, because someone, at some point in time, someone’s an inexperienced Major League manager, right? They get their first job, and then you see, so I don’t expect fans to do cartwheels over this. I’m not doing cartwheels over this, but if you’re looking at his background, I like the fact that he comes from Cleveland, because I I have respect for how Cleveland does things organizationally again, even if they’re not a high payroll club, same with the rays, same with the Giants. So we’re gonna see how this plays out. I watched, you know, you can find interviews and go on YouTube and
Nestor Aparicio 09:47
see him, time with a giant spend time with the Indy. I mean, you know baseball, he’s a baseball guy. I
Luke Jones 09:53
mean, if you you know, he’s 42 he’s, you know, little bit older than me. That’s kind of interesting. Yeah, I’m not saying that’s good. Bad. That’s just kind of, you know, so he’s a young on the younger side, he’s 10 years younger than Brandon Hyde. So we’re going to see if this find out. Look, let me be very clear, the work that they need to do to get themselves back on track and back in the playoffs next year runs so much deeper and more important to me. As far as player acquisitions, trades, signings, what’s the who the manager is is a big deal. It is no question. But for me, it’s not number one. It’s somewhere in, you know, top five, right? I mean, it’s, it’s important, I agree. But at the same time, if this is their higher and then they have another underwhelming off season. I’m not going to be optimistic. Going to this is an
Nestor Aparicio 10:44
underwhelming managerial hire on the face of it, you’re right. I mean, it is what it is. Let’s see how this guy recruits the fan base in the community. Which would which will probably get me digging through Purple Rain. One, I had to dig through Purple Rain two, when I saw Matt Ryan interviewing Joe Flacco before a game, but the Purple Rain one, about how to hire a leader, because we might need that for the hardball manual here at some point too. It keeps lying. Everybody getting Mr. Bashati fined and losing draft picks and whatnot, but recruiting the fan base. I know that’s a lost art with baseball, and they’re too arrogant to consider it, and like all of that, I’m just saying. I’ve been saying it for 30 years. I’ve been pissed on for 30 years about it like that doesn’t matter. Okay, all right. You know, stadium’s empty. They need something to be a splash of some kind for them, and that that’s going to happen if they win, right? They need to win. I had Dave shining out last week, and we did an hour on baseball at Costas. And I thought of you, of course, I also thought of him. I drank beer with resig last week at Coco’s, and I remember that moment where the Orioles were in first place summer and a half ago, and the Ravens are coming off the Chiefs Championship Game loss, and I was puffing my chest out like which one are going to get the parade first? And shining said neither. So I had to give him some credit for that last week when he visited us. But the notion that you’re selling that this guy’s the pile dive, this guy’s the guy over the next three years that is going to lead them to, I don’t say 98 wins, because you don’t need to win 98 wins in order to win the World Series, but 90 put them in a position to win a World Series. And as we sit here and watch the Blue Jays do it in the most unlikely way, in so many unlikely ways, including the unlikely rush tour that has spawned in all of this. But I mean, you and I, on opening day were in Toronto. There wasn’t a thought that they could be a World Series team,
Luke Jones 12:56
but they were. They were in last place the year before, right? I mean, put it this way. So these guys, well, no, of course. But when, and I think I said this to you last week, when we were kind of previewing the World Series, which, you know, first two games, I mean, certainly interesting, but they’re, you know, when you’re talking about the two managers on opening day, if you had said to me, which of the you know, one of these guys is being fired in mid May, I wouldn’t have picked Brandon Hyde, and that was even with me being underwhelmed by the Orioles offseason. So it certainly speaks to how quickly things can change. Now, Blue Jays spend money. Blue Jays made some good moves. Blue Jays had some young players step up.
Nestor Aparicio 13:42
It’s hilarious. I got to stop you, because you’re like, Brandon, hi, Brandon Hyde. Elias is off season. Got him fired. I just want to point that out. So we’re going to talk about how the manager is important or isn’t important. To your point. We can talk about the manager all day, but who’s going to pitch, right?
Luke Jones 14:00
And that’s why, look, I’m not saying that to be little Craig Albert as or hiring a manager or its place in the pecking order, but it is a pecking order, right? It’s not 1975 where Earl Weaver was telling whoever his general manager was, you know, he was saying what he wanted on his roster, right? I mean, that was talked about, you know, when you’re talking about Hank Peters. And I go back and look at that era of the Orioles quote.
Nestor Aparicio 14:29
It is amazing. Now,
Luke Jones 14:31
in the Theo Epstein era, all that gillicks, it got flipped right around the turn of the central question. I mean, the field manager now is middle management. I mean, it absolutely that doesn’t mean it’s in it’s not important. But the general manager hires the manager, and the manager answers to the front office in terms of what they want to do. Now that being said, if, if anyone is listening right now, isn’t a big believer in michaelias in this regime, and look that if you’re not, look. I’ve had my concerns. I’ve had
Nestor Aparicio 15:01
he fired middle management on Saturday and stood his upper management and talked to anybody for four days, right? Yeah. So, so from that, I would have fired his ass instantly. He will not be running my team. So I’m going to say that at every step of the way, right on to the point where you get champagne dumped on your head somewhere in the Midwest when they win the World Series.
Luke Jones 15:22
So from so, from that standpoint, finance, have every right to be skeptical about this, higher than I am just saying. Craig albornez, from what I have gathered and from what you can find, and again, it doesn’t take long, and we all have Google. You know, he’s been in the mix for other managerial openings. He’s considered pretty, pretty highly regarded around the league, like it’s been talked about that he would be a manager at some point, in the same way that people talk about Ryan Flaherty right now. Well, that’s
Nestor Aparicio 15:49
where hybe was too high. Was on that set. Yeah. So, I
Luke Jones 15:52
mean, it’s, we’re gonna find out, right? I mean, it’s, it’s interesting. I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to just hop on YouTube and look at a cup. He’s a Massachusetts guy. So he’s, he has that accent. It’s so that’s interesting. You know, I already saw in his bio in the Guardians media guide. He did grow up a Red Sox fan. You know, to me, can you do the job? Can you lead young players? Can you get the best out of this young core that was wildly disappointing in 2025 to your point, can you manage and be front facing in a way that helps recruit? Now, that’s not the manager’s primary job, but hey, Buck Showalter was really good at that, right? In addition to being a good manager and leading, helping lead the Orioles to success and playoff appearances, right? That is always going to be number one for me. But can you have a way with the media, and when you speak, interact with fans, where, you know, it inspires people. Doesn’t mean that he’s going to be the greatest manager in the history of the game or anything like that. But can it be, you know, can, can you look, I don’t think winning
Nestor Aparicio 17:01
the confidence of the fan base to some degree, because he’s the manager, he’s going to talk 1000 times more than Mike Elias. Elias is running the thing, no
Luke Jones 17:11
question. So that’s where you know you want to see some of that and look it. To me, it’s very apparent. And I know that Elias said that the Orioles wanted to hire a manager ASAP when he spoke at the season ending press conference a day after the season ended, which is only about a month ago at this point in time as you and I are talking. So that is a pretty quick timeline. There are other teams that are going to wait and talk to, presumably talk to Blue Jays or Dodgers assistants, I think, you know, I mean, not every managerial spot has been filled at this point in time. Now, should the Orioles have done that? I’m not going to sit here and say they shouldn’t have at the same time, if they absolutely love Craig albornez And he wanted what was excited about being a Orioles manager, and at the interview, he had ideas that he brought to the table that they liked in terms of how to unlock so and so, or how to make this better in the organization, how to improve their team defense, whatever it might be, right? I mean, I’m hoping, because he was in Cleveland, which is an organization that I think highly of, because he was in Tampa Bay for years, which is an organization that, again, ownership and payroll aside, they’re really smart to have been as successful as they’ve been for a long time with how little they spend on major league payroll. So I like someone that has some pedigree and ties to those organizations, that hopefully you can take some of those elements, blend it into the things that the Orioles have done well, or at least had done well up until the last 18 months, and then very much augment that with payroll and money to go out and get free agents and to make some trades and to boost this roster, because this roster needs a lot of help right now, there’s no doubt about it. So all of that in concert. You can sell me on this hire. But that said it’s still going to come down to who, who do they acquire? What pictures are they going to add? They need another bat. There’s no question about that. So, you know, it’s part of it. You can sell me on it based on his pedigree. At the same time, he has never managed in the major leagues before. You know, he managed two years in the minors for the race. Both those teams seem to do well in terms of looking at win loss record, but I don’t that that doesn’t tell me a whole lot, right? I mean, what were the age of the players on those teams? All of that, right? There, there are a lot of variables at work before we’re just going to blindly look, you know, casually look at a win loss record for a minor league team, you know, a team in single way, and say whether this guy has the chops to manage or not. I think the fact that he has moved at a pretty accelerated pace here over the last five years, where, you know, he went from being minor league four. Old coordinator in 2019 for the rays to then going to the Giants and being their bullpen and catching coach for what, four years to then becoming the Guardians bench coach after being a finalist for their manager job, and then they promoted him, gave him an associate manager title. Why to probably give him a bump in pay and keep him happy because he stuck around for another year. I saw I saw enough sentiment on social media that it seems like guardians, fans and people around the guardians were really happy that they were able to keep him last offseason. So it speaks to this guy must have some aptitude to make this kind of an impression, considering he doesn’t have this lengthy managerial track. I would call
Nestor Aparicio 20:44
him unheralded, right. Unheralded, unheralded in that his name was announced, and we have 7000 people on our tech service. How many of them have heard of him?
Luke Jones 20:56
Well, that’s why I even in the text alert I sent out, I mentioned who he was, if, if, if they had hired Joe Madden, I wouldn’t have said former cubs manager, Joe Maddon. I would have just said the Orioles hired Joe Maddon his manager, right? I told I, I flat out said, Cleveland coach, right, right. So, so, you know, and again, that doesn’t mean it’s not going to work out. And it also, just because of what I’ve laid out, as far as these elements that I like. It doesn’t mean he’s going to be a good manager. I don’t. I have no idea. Anyone who’s saying that they have any idea about this guy is full of it, right? You’re just saying something just for the sake of doing it. I will absolutely hear anyone who’s disappointed because they wanted to hire an experienced major league manager at the same time, if they had hired Scott service or Bob Melvin. I mean, okay, Bob Melvin has a long his managerial back background and track record. How many World Series is Bob Melvin won one last century, right? Not his manager, though. He wasn’t the manager of
Nestor Aparicio 21:56
the Diamondbacks, and now Bob Bradley was friendly, my bad. All right, replace Buck Showalter. Yeah, so. So I never knew Melvin. Melvin was in Oriole right when that Brady and 8990 I got my media. I had a press pass during that era, but I didn’t know Bob Melvin. I can’t say that I’ve ever talked
Luke Jones 22:13
about, and let me be clear, I’m not this isn’t me saying that I didn’t want because I absolutely talked about having an experienced manager, but who’s available, who will work for you? Look shame on the Orioles if they didn’t at least place a call to Bruce bocci or his agent, so to speak, and at least find out if he’d be interested, right? And they might not have even picked up the phone. For all we know, Bruce Bochy is at a point in his life when you know, regardless of whether he manages again, he’s not gonna be doing it much longer. I mean, he’s I mean, he’s just, he’s up there in age that much. But to me, like, if you didn’t at least make a call to someone like that, if you didn’t at least make a call and have a conversation with Joe Madden, then, yeah, shame on you. Then. And look, I don’t know if they did or not at this point in time. I don’t know if we’ll find that out, but at the same time, you have to be realistic in not what you want the Orioles to do, but what you’re going to expect them to do. And this is kind of what I expected. But I do like the fact that it’s someone that’s coming from organizations other than the Astros, and it’s not just like a lazy link to the Astros, right? It doesn’t seem like they necessarily or would have much familiarity with him beyond just doing their homework and researching and interviewing. Clearly, he knocked their socks off to with the interview, because, you know, the seem to come together very quickly. So we’re gonna find out. Greg alborn has a, you know, maybe he’s the next Earl Weaver, or maybe he’s the next, I don’t know, Phil Regan, you know, like, in terms of, you know, it doesn’t work out at all. And I’m not picking on Phil Regan, just first one who came to mind, one and done as an Orioles manager. So, you know, like I said, there are things to like, there are things that are absolutely question marks, including the fact that, No, he hasn’t managed in the majors, and only managing the minors a couple years. But I do like the background of where he’s coming from, where he has spent time. I have respect for those organizations. I’m hoping some of the best things they do, he’s adapted along the way for his own philosophy, and I’m hoping that he’s bringing fresh eyes and a fresh approach and some fresh ideas, because this team needs it. There’s no doubt. I mean, you go back to where they were at the end of June in 2024 i i always think back to you and I sitting at Costas, watching them just bludgeon the Yankees and that, what was it a Thursday afternoon game, Wednesday or Thursday afternoon, whatever it was, the finale of that series. And yeah, the Orioles looked like they might be the best team in baseball. That was a week where they had taken two out of three from the Phillies and then taken two out of three from the Yankees. I mean, they were on from a perception standpoint, it couldn’t have looked much better than. Did right then, and since then, boy, it’s been, I don’t know if disaster, but it’s been a massive disappointment.
Nestor Aparicio 25:09
It’s been as bad as Adley rutchman has been, sure, yeah. I mean, at least kind of what’s happened to him has happened to them, sure. I
Luke Jones 25:17
mean, it’s, it’s certainly coincided. It’s, you know, it’s not all his fault, obviously, but he’s kind of been the face of it, right? He was the face of the rebuild and the the ascension, and he’s been the face of the decline.
Nestor Aparicio 25:28
Dude shining told me last week he thinks he’s done with him. You know what? I mean, I don’t know, like, I don’t know if they’re done with him. I don’t know what their plan could be. They gave all this money to be saiyo, well, nobody really believes beside who’s a catcher,
Luke Jones 25:40
yeah, I mean, it’s look first of all, and this is where it’s tough. I mean, what are you getting for him right now? Not. And to be clear, when I say that that doesn’t, doesn’t mean he’s devoid of value that far from that, but it’s certainly not his peak value. And you know, for me, like
Nestor Aparicio 25:56
there’s groceries back by the bathroom and wise markets at all dented in the back. Discount them a little bit.
Luke Jones 26:02
They can still be good, but it might not be what you thought, right? I mean, I
Nestor Aparicio 26:06
never get the second day donuts. They’re never any good. Yeah, we don’t want to do that. But
Luke Jones 26:10
if it’s a dented can, it doesn’t mean that it’s not perfectly fine product.
Nestor Aparicio 26:14
But Well, as we talk about dented cans, we can mix a football conversation this and talk about Sam darnold, talk about what Geno Smith did, what you know, Baker Mayfield’s doing, you know, sort of the next place is a better place in the way that Ryan O’Hearn, you know, it took a little longer, you know, I, I don’t know what to say, but from this offseason for all of these guys, nothing about the body of their work is going to change as we sit here, whether it’s Craig Albert as or whether it’s Joe Madden or whether it’s Buck Showalter, none of that’s going to change. The only thing that’s going to change the perception of the team is going to be real bodies, real humans, real arms, some bats. That’s where the confidence is going to come from, because it’s not going to come from. Well, westburg is going to have 600 at bats next year, and gunner is going to hit 38 home runs next year. It’s going to make that next move up. And Jackson holiday is going to become a two, solid 275, 25 home run guy next year, as we think he can blossom at and rushman is going to go back and hit 268, next year, and at 24 bombs and drive in 91 runs, and, you know, catch 118 games. Like, I don’t know that you can sell me on any of the baby birds beyond Henderson being amazing. And I’ll give you that he might hit 50 next year. I don’t know, right? I mean, that’s I saw the dumper. So I know he’s capable, but I know all these guys are capable, and I’m sure with this new manager, that’s what he’s looking at and saying, I would have loved to have had this team this time last year, but the job was unavailable because they won 100 games. Yeah,
Luke Jones 27:55
well, and what you just laid out there. Look, I don’t care how great their offseason is, they’re going to need some of that to happen right there. It doesn’t mean every single guy in the young Corps is going to click, but they certainly need a nice, a nice chunk of it to click, right? They need gunner Henderson to get back to where he was the year before,
Nestor Aparicio 28:13
Kobe mayo with the big bat. And like, like, if any of those kind of guys blossomed, if Mayo became a 32 home run, 255 hitter next year, Mount castle on his best day, that they would really have something. I cannot you sit here and bet season tickets, Berg land membership, that’s fine. My thoughts my money, because you can gamble on it now, like I can’t sit here with any confidence. I mean, look, dude, I hate to be with lock and for on this one, even though I’ve known to me, they got the wrong guy running the team. They got the wrong owner. They got a lot of wrong but to your point, to sell confidence, if they brought some right players in, they brought some right pitchers in, and sell me up on any of these young guys, but then next year, they’re going to have to go out and do it, but I will have zero confidence in any of that until May 15 of next year, when I see five or six of these young guys hold their water far better than anything I’ve seen so far.
Luke Jones 29:18
And that’s and that’s fair like I but what I’m saying is there aren’t enough roster moves they can practically make. There isn’t enough money in the world that they could realistically right? This is
Nestor Aparicio 29:30
where I had this with shine in and I’m going to have this with Alan McCallum at State Fair. It brought to you by the Maryland lottery. You’ll have a given scratches and look you and I can go deeper into this. And because we’re this was supposed to be a manager piece, not a deep dive. We got a football game. So much
Luke Jones 29:46
to say about a guy that we don’t know a whole lot about, of course, and that’s what I thought.
Nestor Aparicio 29:51
We can close on this. And I’ll give you parting shot on all of this, right? Who’s their catcher? They have two. They gave one guy $80 million the other guy. Is a one, one that they can’t get rid of in the not getting who’s their first baseman? Well, you know, Mayo, what? Second base, holiday shortstop. Well, we got, we got a pretty good 1/3. Base, West outfield. Well, we’re gonna cows are center field, yeah, well, right field. Well, the Canadian kid, we got back into him, beavers is gonna get some at bats, a bit. So I’m not talking about anymore. Mullins, mount, Castle O’Hearn, the right handed guy that the that was here five years, yeah, I mean all of those guys now gone. We know the lineup. We know Albert Nestor. Knows who his players are. Other than I think there’s the mystery bad the mystery player, the getting rid of cows are and getting a real center fielder doesn’t strike out. You know, 194 times a year. Like, I like, I think they’re going to look to upgrade things. And I think this is a time you break eggs when rushman isn’t any good, and you’ve given all the money to beside you’ve already talked about where you’re going to be with a lot of this, a lot of these guys are now at that point where adafe away was, which is what we’re dealing him in week three. What? What? What? We’re not going to sign him anyway. You know, like we’re not giving, we’re not into his money, no matter what, given the body of work. So cut losses, decide you’re going to get your offense in other places. And then there’s the whole pitching thing, right? The whole pitching thing is there. But when I keep looking at it, and I said, the shine, unless we can, like, well, they could get by with Rogers and Bradish because they’re there, and they could say that gray rod is coming back, and, like, all this other stuff, but from position players. I mean, it feels like they’re going to go with what they got, because that’s what they got, and that’s where they are, until they spend a bunch of money, and I know they’re not spending it at catcher, second base, shortstop, probably third base. You know, where’s the money coming from that you want them to spend in the splash, and they’re not going to make splash with bullpen signings, right? You know? I mean, well, we have five relief even though they’re going to need that. I mean, right? And they have 18 players that they assembled in getting rid of all of those guys back in July. And somewhere in there, listening to Elias through that crazy press conference a month ago, he feels like three or four or five of those guys are going to be real bodies in Sarasota to earn jobs somehow on the roster, right
Luke Jones 32:28
or or three or four or five of those guys are going to be flipped in some trades to to go get relievers or, I mean, on the position player side, very clearly outfield. I mean, there needs to be a very legitimate, very serious outfielder added to this team, first base. I mean, Mount Castle has one more year of arbitration if you want to go that route. I’m kind of it’s nothing personal against I like Ryan, I’ve seen a long enough body of work now where I just don’t think the juice is going to be worth the squeeze there, you know, mayo. Like, don’t get me wrong, I’m not sitting here saying that. I’m absolutely looking to trade him, and I think he stinks, or anything like that. No, far from it. Maybe he does blossom. I would put it this way, I still am a believer that Kobe Mayo is going to hit in the major leagues and become, you know, a guy that can hit 30 home runs, I don’t know if that timeline is going to be as rapid as it needs to be for a team where the Orioles are right now, right? That still might be another year or two away. I mean, look at Chris Davis. He didn’t really blossom into becoming him at his best until he was like 25 or 26 right? It does those type of power hitting guys that have swing and miss in their profile. Sometimes it takes a couple years, and that’s but that’s why, that’s all the more reason why they have failed these last couple off seasons and not having more of a established veteran, couple pillars to help these other young guys. Look at what Springer’s done for the Blue Jays. No question, no question. But if they had had that, that’s not to say all these young guys would have been fine and they wouldn’t have struggled. Because look, these are flawed players, right? I mean, these aren’t all perfect, even one. Ones have flaws, right? We’ve seen that. I mean, Tim Beckham played for the Orioles at one point in time, he was a former one, one who never really lived, and came close to living up to that right? And that was that was with the rays, a team that’s considered a genius when it comes to drafting and developing, right? So you’re never going to bat 1000 but that was all the more reason to augment, and they need to augment. So no matter what happens with Craig Albert as no matter what happens with what how active, how much they spend in their offseason? Yeah, their fate in 2026 is still very much going to come back to how many of these young members of the Corps can take a step forward. It doesn’t mean all 100% of them, but. It needs to be more than just one or two. If that doesn’t happen, then, even if they spend a bunch of money, I’m not going to love their chances for 2026 so that’s why Craig Albert Nestor, whoever else they hire for the coaching staff and all all of those things that hopefully they’ve been evaluating since the this disaster of a season, even before it was over, do everything you can to try to get these guys ascending, get these guys trending upward. And if they do that, then I think they have a chance to turn things around. But boy, lot of heavy lifting still left, even after the hiring of Albert Nestor. Here’s Luke Jones.
Nestor Aparicio 35:39
I am Nestor. We got baseball, we got football, we got World Series, we got managerial highs, we got football on Thursday. We got no football on Sunday, but there’ll be a lot of football on Sunday around here this week. And we are, you know, be getting into November here and into who’s going to pitch? Who are they going to get so we’ll get some baseball around here and be plenty of that all week long as we’re up late with all that. Luke’s going to be at Owings Mills in and out. I’m going to be at state fair on Tuesday with our friends at the Maryland lottery, giving Raven scratch offs away. I also want to give a shout out to our friends at GBMC for keeping me healthy and squared up here. I have a colonoscopy that I’m bragging about because everybody who’s a dude out there should be getting one. I haven’t. When they asked me, How did yours go? I’m like, I’m 57 haven’t had one yet. They’re like, oh boy, dude, don’t you talk about this on the radio alone? I’m like, Yeah, but I don’t listen to what I say on the radio. So anyway, GBMC, thank you very much. Big piece this week on hip and knee replacement as well with Dr Duvall, who’s actually a Baltimore guy. He’s actually a Carroll County guy, local guy, young guy, and he was great, great chatting with me about everybody knows somebody with a hip and a knee replacement and get back up and moving. Not me yet. One at a time here, like Humpty. Dumpty put me back together again. By the way, a planet fitness, brand new location in Timonium. I was there for the grand opening. It’s not actually open yet. They have a grand opening sale 1999 for the black card. I was out there all day. Saturdays are getting it together, right behind the expectation, right across from the racetrack, right across from Costa sin, where we were last week doing the Maryland crab cake tour. And next week we will be at Coco’s in Laurel. We’re also going to be doing that on Wednesday, and then Friday we’re at Pizza John’s in Essex. I got some good guests coming out, and I’m looking forward to cheesecake. I’m holding off on cheesesteaks and cricket cut french fries and gravy until the seventh of November. My crazy tastiness tour from curio wellness got me out doing stuff. I just finished off another Woodley cookie. So I did. I took, like, the whole month of September, off from all my favorite things to eat, because I ate today of much in August. So I’m back on the trail. Here he is Luke. I am Nestor. We’re swallowing a lot of aggression at two and five, as well as all the lies of John Harbaugh, which we’ll get to next. We’re Baltimore positive.
