It looked like Major League Baseball at times but Luke Jones and Nestor couldn’t ignore the obvious of the Orioles and Athletics playing three games in a minor-league stadium in Sacramento as the sport continues to devolve and lower its own bar for professionalism. Two last-place teams going nowhere, except maybe to Las Vegas…
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent performance, highlighting their six-game winning streak and the importance of maintaining momentum. They noted the team’s struggles with a 16-34 record as of May 24 and the need for a significant improvement to contend for the wild card. Luke emphasized the importance of the starting rotation and bullpen, while Nestor criticized the team’s performance against left-handed pitchers. They also discussed injuries, including Ryan Mountcastle’s 8-12 week hamstring strain, and the potential for young players like Kobe Mayo to step up. The conversation concluded with plans for upcoming events and community engagements.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Orioles struggles, bats and arms, mini camp, heritage fair, Maryland lottery, crab cake tour, Adley Rutschman, Colton Cowser, starting rotation, bullpen, wild card contender, injury report, Ryan Mountcastle, Kobe Mayo, left-handed pitchers.
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W N st am 1570 task Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive or positively into another week. The Orioles are coming home. See, we’re through Belmont. We got some mini camp happening next week, and it’s the it’s summer season, and with heritage fair being back on I want to give a big shout out to Darren the sausage King at deepest squales for hooking me up. I got sausage everywhere. I promised him a shout out. If you know Darren the sausage King, well, you know Darren the sausage King, and he’s a long time Lister here at wnsd, so my thanks to him. Friday, I will not be eating sausage. I will be eating shrimp salad, probably fried oysters and definitely a crab cake. We’re going to be giving the Back to the Future scratch offs away courtesy of the Maryland lottery. We will be at fade Lees in Lexington market, and then next Tuesday, we’re going to be at the Y in Randallstown, doing the pool opening for Juneteenth with John Hoey. I’ve been wanting to do this show for a long, long time. So I’m looking forward to that. Also going to be at readers crab house later on in the month, in Reisterstown, and then making our way to Eldersburg with my pal Mike McKelvin at 1623, brewing that’s happening in July. And then we’re doing our 27 favorite things to eat. And I outed myself about the donuts over at Pennsylvania Dutch market on Friday, Luke, be honest with me, have you ever had a maple bacon donut?
Luke Jones 01:30
You know what I think I have? Yeah, pretty I’m pretty sure I have,
Nestor Aparicio 01:33
yeah. Well, then you know what’s good? You know what’s up? You know what’s righteous? Yeah, I would say that Luke Jones is here. He is bored with the Orioles, but we’re watching anyway. You know, the other team did have nice uniforms, and it was a minor league park where every fly ball was Jim Palmer was quick to point out, you know, there’s not a second deck here, and the wind’s blowing. Luke, how are you? I’m going to see you on Friday. You’ve got football things. You and I had a really compelling argument about whether Lamar Jackson should be a practice or not. Was shocked by your point of view, and I did not put you up to that as your boss friend, you know, whatever I am, at this point, you took the side you took. So I’ll continue to shame you thusly, but nonetheless, I’ll continue to
Luke Jones 02:17
say, OTAs don’t matter
Nestor Aparicio 02:19
anyway, practice, we’re talking practice. Um, all right, man, either coming home. Parts of it are a little better. You know, ruchman looks awake, you know, in general. But you know, the records, record, it is what it is, getting guys back, cows or whatever it is. It’s just, we’re in the middle of summer, and it’s just not good enough. I mean, that, you know, oh, and I’ll say this point, right? Yeah. I mean, I’m not
Luke Jones 02:47
they’re certainly playing better. I think that’s evident, especially when you go into the weekend series having swept Seattle, you’ve won nine of 11. You have a six game winning streak. But I think the weekend was such a reminder of just the reality of where they are with the math, with what their record was on May 24 when you’re 16 and 34 right? And you’re buried before Memorial Day, a nine of 11 is a really good stretch like that. That’s That’s excellent baseball for going on two weeks, but you need to make that 18 of 22 right? You need to make that 20 of 24 I mean, you need to have the opposite of what the age just did, right, right? Exactly. And that’s part of it too. I mean, it was nice to sweep the mariners. I mean, a good three game series there. I mean, as you mentioned, I mean Adley rutschman. This is the best. This six game stretch is the best Adley restaurants looked since last, last July. I mean, I really do think that walks, hitting the ball with authority, hitting the ball the other way, some extra base hits, hit a couple long balls. I mean, that was good to see. Great to see Colton cowser Come back and hit a ball country mile on Saturday night. I mean, I don’t think that ball’s landed yet, as they’re coming back to town now, but, but, but, I think the fact that you played in an A’s team that had lost 20 of 22 and you’re thinking when you’re having one six in a row going into that series at Sacramento, the team that teams in a complete spiral Tailspin as bad, if not worse than the Orioles have looked at their worst over the last three and a half weeks or so, and then you lose two out of three. And I think one thing that we’ve talked about somewhat, but I think if you really look at the numbers going back to May 24 when they had begun that stretch of nine of 11, it’s been the pitching leading the way. I mean, the starting rotation has been until this series, and I’ll get to get back to that in a moment, but the starting rotation had been a starting rotation had been excellent, the bullpen had been excellent, but go, look at the offense. It still hadn’t been that many great performances, some timely hits and doing what they needed to do and doing just enough. But it’s not as though they were hanging nine or 10 runs on teams multiple times a week. The last few weeks. So you go into this series, we know what offense has looked like in Sacramento, at playing in that ballpark, how much of that’s the A’s pitching or not. I mean, the numbers are the numbers. So you’re kind of thinking, okay, you know, even if you’re pitching, your starting rotation takes a step back, which it did over the weekend, and look, they weren’t going to continue to to pitch to a starter, E R A of two in the way that they were for the better part of part of the last two weeks. But it’s not as though it was a disaster even, either. I mean, it’s not not like Dean Kramer gave up 10 runs. It’s not like Sugano gave up seven runs on Sunday. But they needed their offense to step up in those games, and you’re still not seeing that. It answered the bell on Saturday with Charlie Morton looking more like the Charlie Morton of the first six weeks of the season. The offense did their job, certainly on Saturday night. But you know, you got to win two out of three in a series like this. And if that sounds harsh, and you’re saying, well, Luke, you’re being kind of hard on a team that just had a four and two road trip, this is the bed that they made for themselves. So when you have a series that you lose against one of the worst teams in the American League on the heels of having one nine of 11, it’s just a reminder of, man, you just got a long, long, long road ahead of playing out of your mind kind of baseball to really get back on in this thing, and I’m speaking through the looking through the lens of the pathway to be a wild card contender, right? I mean, if we just say it’s over, it’s over. And you and I don’t even have to talk about this, right? I mean, there’s still compelling things to talk about with this team. But if we’re talking through that, you know, if we’re thinking about it through from that perspective in terms of what they need to do to get back in the neighborhood of being an 8586 8788 win team that probably has them right in the thick of the wild card race. I mean, it’s just really tough. I mean, at this point as they come home, 26 and 38 you know, you have what? 98 games to go. You go 55 and 43 that’s a 91 win pace. That’s playing like a 91 win team the rest of the way, even that only gets them to 81 and 81 so as much as we kind of view this, my
Nestor Aparicio 07:16
dad would always do this, by the way, my dad was a magic number guy, right? Like doing the math on all of it and just saying what has been done in the history of baseball and what is possible here, and how fast could we drive the car from here to California? Could we it’s, this is a cannonball run at this point, when you get behind like this,
Luke Jones 07:32
yeah, I mean, it’s just, it’s really, it’s not impossible. But I think what we have to remember here, whether we’re talking about the Orioles, or anytime you’re talking about pace and what a team’s true talent level is, I think you and I thought certainly going into the season, and even through the first seven or eight weeks, we kept saying steam has to be better than this. Like, like at its worst, they have to be better than this. I mean, the injuries, guys who are missing, guys, underperforming, some bad luck, mixing, like all of that. But that said, when you have an outcome that was their first two months and you’ve buried yourself, the math doesn’t suggest that you’re then, you know, the law of averages said You’re then going to play like 110 win team the rest of the way. You know, you can flip a coin and it can land heads five times in a row. As unlikely as that can be that can happen, that doesn’t mean that it’s just as likely then that it’s going to land five times in a row on tails right after that. So that’s, you know, I think this weekend was just a little bit of a reality check, not that they’re not playing better, not that I’m completely down on them as badly as I was two weeks ago, two and a half weeks ago, they are playing better overall, and they are getting healthier. We’re going to see Jordan Westberg back this week. Cows are already back. They’ve got other guys. You know, lorianna has come back, and we’ve seen what impact that he’s made. You know, one of, one of the additions that Michael is made that actually worked out okay, right? I mean, in the role that he’s filled, but it this weekend is just a reminder of, I mean, your margin for errors just shot. So when you play a team that had just lost 20 of 22 and then you lose two out of three, you just kind of say, well, okay, now you come home and the best team in baseball is coming into town, and you’re gonna face Tariq Scoble on Thursday, and you’re gonna face of tigers these next three. So hey, good luck there. I mean, so it’s just, it’s really tough. That’s why, you know, if you’re Tony mancellino and you’re this ball club right now, you really do have to just try to keep it in the present, in the here and now, that night’s game. You know, that series, you know, there’s no looking ahead. I You and I can talk about the math, because, you know, we’re not in the arena playing right. We can look ahead. I I always talk in those terms. But, you know, it’s just, man, it’s just, it’s tough, because four and two, a four and two road trip under normal circumstances, and if this team hadn’t played as horrendously as they did for seven or eight weeks. You’d be saying, all right, it’s a four, two road trip. That’s that’s fine, right? I mean, you’re fine, but, man, it’s just, you’ve got to make up games. You’ve got to make up and get closer to closer to 500 and I get it, there’s close to four months of baseball left. We all understand that. But they just, they still have the deficiencies that they have, right? They still have the question marks that they have. The starting rotations been better the last couple weeks. Doesn’t mean I think they’re going to pitch like the 1995 Atlanta Braves the rest of the year, either. So it’s just again, I think this, this weekend, was a little bit of the pump the brakes on and God bless fans. I mean, they’re, they’re trying to have something to to enjoy here. I mean, this is something that was supposed to be fun, and it hasn’t been fun, but it’s just a reminder of, man, they they just, they have to be so freaking good for so long just to get to a point where you would even talk about, I don’t know, 500 or a few games over 500 right? Whatever they would need to be at the trade deadline to have a different discussion there, right? I mean, and it’s just, it’s really tough to do that. And, yeah, I mean, the weekend series against the A’s, I mean, could have won two out of three, you know, Sunday. I mean, Sagano wasn’t good early on, but I mean, they didn’t mount any offense. And, oh yeah, I don’t want to bury the lead here too much. Well, they faced two left handed starters, and they lost both those games. So it’s just a reminder of yes, that also is still an issue as we’re trying to sift through the good and the bad of a team that, yes, I do genuinely think is playing better. You know, the results reflect that, but still such a long way to go, and they just have so so so little margin for air to to drop two out of three to an A’s team that had just been terrible the last three and a half weeks.
Nestor Aparicio 11:47
Would you make a Sacramento? My buddy Tom Cousins was texting me from the ballpark, and, you know, he spent too much on the tickets. And I monitor tickets for, you know, $10 people wanted to go from Sacramento and the minor league feel of it, Palmer calling the game, just the, you know, up all night, Friday night. I just, I don’t know what to say about it, but it feels like, just for the sport, you know, when I talk about the sport itself, they go out to Seattle, nobody’s there. They go to Sacramento, and it’s still like, you know, not the hottest show in town. And I, I don’t know, would you make of it? I mean,
Luke Jones 12:28
it’s funny to say this, because so much contributed to what Oakland had become, and the atmosphere, or lack thereof at the Coliseum had become over the last 20 years, if not longer than that. I mean, you think back to the early 2000s with the money ball A’s and the run they had. Then they’ve had some playoff teams since then, you know, over the last 15 years. But just knowing how that situation had crumbled to the degree that it did, let’s face it, they were going to the Coliseum in recent years, and I think that, looking at the attendance, Friday was announced 8000 Saturday was 9000 8000 or 9000 in a minor league ballpark is a better atmosphere than eight or 9000 in the Coliseum, which is the way to become but, I mean, if that’s the bar we’re judging on, I mean, it speaks To, you know, it’s, it’s a disaster. It’s embarrassing for the league. It’s, I mean, more so embarrassing for that ownership and an organization that was such a proud franchise at one point in time. I mean, you think about the go back to the late 60s and early 70s. I mean, what the Orioles were at that point in time, and what the A’s? I mean, three straight World Series, you know, the A’s of the late 80s and early 90s. And just to think what it’s become, you know, the atmosphere itself, it seemed, you know, as minor league trip away, ballparks go, it seemed fine, like fun and whatever. I mean, they got the burn and, you know, remind you of spring training in that way. I mean, so, yeah, the atmosphere in that regard is fine, but for that to be the three what’s what’s looking like, it’s going to be the three year home of a major league baseball team? Yeah, it’s embarrassing. So, you know, do I think, do I think that had any major bearing on, like, how the Orioles played? And I’m not, I’m not suggesting your question was, what was hinting at that? No, not really. I mean, you got to, you had to bring your own energy to go to Oakland. Uh, anyway, the same thing with playing the rays in the dome compared to when they’re going to be playing at Steinbrenner field, yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 14:32
when gunner Henderson is avoiding tags at the plate. And, you know, there’s bang, bang play. You know, it’s great slide, by the way. Great slide. Oh, unbelievable, legendary, yeah, I mean, but, but I looked at it and I’m like, this, this, it’s so weird. This doesn’t even smack of anything they should be proud of. No, no.
Luke Jones 14:50
I mean, Major League Baseball in general shouldn’t. No, there’s nothing to be proud of with that. I mean, let’s, let’s face it, and this is not exclusive to baseball. I mean, anytime a franchise moves, there’s failure there, and typically, multiple parties failing, right? I mean, look, did the Orioles fans
Nestor Aparicio 15:09
could and should have gone away years ago with Angelo State, the fact that the franchise is still here is a testament to how much free money they gave him with Masson. Because, like, you know, after what the Colts did and whatever, if we were Montreal, we would had two middle fingers, because Montreal just said, Good night, goodbye, get out. And if there weren’t for Brooks, and it weren’t for Jim Palmer and it weren’t for people who bridge generations here, this thing was so horrifically run, if it weren’t for bleeding hearts like you that only love it because your father loved it, and me because I was born into it. I think about it every day. I think every day, like, what am I doing on second ownership here with these people, like, what am I doing? Because, like,
Luke Jones 15:54
a lot of hate watching,
Nestor Aparicio 15:58
but then I see what they do to the fans in Oakland, what this Tampa disaster is what the people in Colorado are enduring, you know, even in Houston, where they endured this, then they won, and they found that they cheated to win. I mean, like, it’s just the whole thing, it’s it’s foul, it’s smelly, and they go to Sacramento, and it’s easy to be a jerk on the radio and kick them and kick them around or whatever, but, you know, we still haven’t heard from the owner since they fired the manager and he made a bobblehead a month ago, like the general managers on the fly. I just the whole thing the way the broadcasters broadcast, you know, Ben Wagner with the well, they had a really good crowd here the other night. Two good crowds on Friday and Saturday. Good crowds. Place seats 12,000 people, and
Luke Jones 16:46
that’s why I said, relative to what the show. That’s what Oakland was drawing in recent at bat. I mean, they were drawing less than that, you know. I mean ground
Nestor Aparicio 16:53
ball gets up on a guy at first base who has no business being in the big leagues, in a minor league Park, and Rob Long’s into dugout. Ben Wagner is talking about the grass and the dirt, and Palmer’s like, it’s a big league game. He’s got to catch the ball, because Palmer is the only one I can trust. But, you know, because he don’t care. But I mean, for God’s sake, it’s just you’re in last place. Call an error and error when you miss play a ball gunner Henderson that’s hit right at you. It’s, it’s a misplayed ball, and, you know, knows it the most, the guy that won 268, games, who was a pitcher who expected you to make that play because Aparicio and Blanchard did no soda, Kiko Garcia, but that’s
Luke Jones 17:36
another, I think, you know, go and going back to the A’s part of it. I mean, I mean, I hear what you’re we’ve talked about Masson and all that
Nestor Aparicio 17:43
so many times. It’s midnight on a Friday night, both of these teams are in last place. One of them’s lost 2022, the other ones, I mean, and they’re playing in a minor league ballpark, and I’m thinking to myself, This is what it is. I
Luke Jones 17:58
don’t know what that means, but this is what it is. I don’t know. Whatever you
Nestor Aparicio 18:02
think it is. Okay, it’s midnight. I’m awake, and I’m watching two last place teams play in a minor league ballpark in a city that doesn’t want a team in laundry that used to represent 1973 and Vita blue and Jim Palmer catfish, you know, like, it’s not that. But I just looked at it and thought, to your point, there’s a lot of failure all the way around with that franchise over the last 25 but
Luke Jones 18:27
I think the shame of it, though, is how that overshadows Jacob Wilson’s hitting 370 right now for them. I mean, like, holy cow, like, and some of that happens just with small market teams or teams or teams that aren’t playing well, right? I mean, but it’s kind of wild, right? I mean, you got to watch him up close for a few days here. I’m not sure how many Orioles fans I’ve caught too many A’s games so far. I mean, I have MLB TV and I’ve, I had seen the A’s maybe three times all year for parts of games, but I was really impressed. I mean, that play that Denzel Clark made on Friday night running down that Mateo drive to where he crashed into the wall. It’s one of the best plays I’ve seen in the last couple of years. I mean, that was a phenomenal, but phenomenal defensive play
Nestor Aparicio 19:12
that as opposed to Dylan Carlson playing a sorry, no question, yeah, but, but I’m
Luke Jones 19:17
just but my point is it’s not as though the A’s are completely lacking of some really talented players. I mean, I know Mason Miller’s had a a really rough year, but you and I were talking about him as someone that you know would be a trade ship. I mean, he throws 103 miles per hour and all that, so
Nestor Aparicio 19:34
we got them all in at five pitches in the night. Yeah, yeah.
Luke Jones 19:36
I mean, the shame of it is just that you when you have talents like that on these teams, you know and speak, speaking specifically of the A’s because of where they are right now, and go into another city, ballpark’s not ready. You’ve posed plenty of fair questions about how viable it’s even going to be in Las Vegas. But yet, you have these really talented players that are not being showcased in any way, right, appropriately, because of what you just laid out. So you know, and and to be clear, and going back to my point about the Orioles losing two out of three to this team. I mean, the ACE hit the ball. I mean, their offense hasn’t been their issue. They they’re pitching has been their issue, and that’s why it was disappointing that the Orioles manage one run on Sunday,
Nestor Aparicio 20:25
dude, I’m laughing out loud. I just got to be interruptive you. And I walk through the Dallas Cowboys training facility a year and a half ago, and there’s that’s professional sports, and the Sacramento athletics are perfect. You know what I mean, like, we’re talking about as far away as Manchester United would be from whatever Ryan Reynolds team was when he found it. You know what I mean, yeah, like, and I don’t even know enough about that to make it, make a case of it, but I mean, it really is. It’s an amazing thing to think about. We think of them all as being the same logos and professional team. It’s, it’s just the football thing. They’re playing a different they’re, they’re just doing something different.
Luke Jones 21:09
Maybe we should try relegation here. I mean, we’ve talked about that and in jest for for years now with, you know, whether we’re talking baseball or the Cleveland Browns and the NFL. I mean, all that. But, you know, I mean it’s, it’s certainly, I mean, it’s a shame to see something like that, because, again, you have these players that, I mean, think about, and I know they’ve what, they’ve upgraded some of you know, the stadium to make it better than it had been, I suppose, you know, again, I’m, I’m not. That’s not patting on the back. That’s damning with praise, you know, right? I
Nestor Aparicio 21:45
suppose it looks like a spring training statement. Well,
Luke Jones 21:48
you just see the fact that they’re walking out through the left, left center, you know, they’re walking out through the outfield. I mean, this is like some, this is like something. It was kind of funny, because, you know me, I am a total baseball history nerd. And I think back to, like, the Polo Grounds, which the teams left via the outfield, you know? I mean, it was the polar grounds. It wasn’t a baseball only park when it was constructed. And, like, you see something like this, and you think, Wow, this is a major league ballpark for the time being, and
Nestor Aparicio 22:20
the team didn’t get forced out by famine, by he do, yeah. I mean, opted to do this, and this quarter of a century after saying raise,
Luke Jones 22:28
at least, yeah, the rays, at least again, I’ll give them a half measure of grace, they’ve still have screwed the pooch big time in a lot of ways with that situation. But at least the hurricane ripped the roof, or ripped the roof off the dome down in St Pete. But this is, this is something that’s, it’s premeditated, right? I mean, this is something that’s been years in the making, and this is still the best you come up with. It’s just, it’s crazy to me.
Nestor Aparicio 22:55
It is crazy. Luke is here. The Orioles are back playing the Detroit Tigers this week, um, go to the infirmary for me here and, and probably a great time as we do a breezy, airy Monday morning piece. Um, how’s that? Corbin burns thing working out for you there?
Luke Jones 23:11
Champ. Well, everyone breaks. And I don’t say that to be I told you so, because I, you know, I, I was, you like,
Nestor Aparicio 23:24
those warning signs about velocity and a
Luke Jones 23:28
little bit. I mean, the Velo a little, you know, the strikeout rate a little, but this guy’s been so durable. But this is why I said, I mean, Gerrit Cole is the same way. These guys are durable until they’re not anymore. And this is why I do understand when teams say we’re not going to give a pitcher a seven or eight year deal, because he’s going to break now I’ll say this, even with the Orioles approach that said it, they made a legitimate offer. They average more average annual value than Arizona did. Think about this, they could have signed Corbin burns to a four year deal, and they’d be looking at half the value of that deal being completely thrown away now, because he’s going to miss most of, if not all of next year too, at this point in time, with it being June already, so it’s a bummer. I like Corbin burns. I think he’s a really cerebral guy. I think he clearly had some conviction, as far as you know, how he’s handled his career. I mean, he talked about this, you know, he didn’t throw bullpens last year in between starts. I mean, that was something that he wanted to do, and the Orioles were okay with it. It’s something that I guess he had adapted along the way in Milwaukee. I mean, but he had kept himself healthy. He was a guy who made 32 starts every year, right? I mean, in this day and age, whether that means he’s going to go eight or nine anymore in the way that you thought of bonafide true aces, 3040, 50 years ago. Of course, the game’s changed in that way. But he was going to go 32 starts and give you six consistently, maybe, and give you seven some. Times, here and there, and it was going to
Nestor Aparicio 25:01
be really, really good in an era where there aren’t number ones, he was a real number one. Yeah, no question,
Luke Jones 25:06
no question. So, so it’s a real bummer in that way. And you know, I don’t want to dive too far into this, because I’ll get back to the rest of the infirmary port report, because there are some notable things that have developed here, but it’s just the latest reminder of the industry as a whole, the sport as a whole. Forget about major league baseball. Just across the board, Major League Baseball on down to the youth level, we continue to chase velocity and spin and more velocity and more spin, and more velocity and more spin. These pictures are just breaking and they’re breaking, and guys are breaking multiple times. Now, it used to be, you know, the mindset was you would have Tommy John surgery, and okay, you got your Tommy John surgery, you got your new UCL, you’re good to go, Hey, go nuts. You’re gonna be great for the next 10 years. And now we’re seeing guys have multiple elbow surgeries, multiple Tommy John surgeries, and we know the return rate for those isn’t nearly as clear cut and successful as one. Tommy John,
Nestor Aparicio 26:06
well, you’re waiting on Kyle Bradish right now and saying, Okay, well, I’m getting here. Well, but, but
Luke Jones 26:10
that, and that’s the thing, look, I have the confidence that Kyle Bradish will come back and pitch effectively. Felix Batista has pitched effectively. Do I have the confidence that Felix Batista is going to stay healthy now for the next seven years, I don’t know, not really, just in the general sense, not because of Felix or anything about him. Well, there’s
Nestor Aparicio 26:28
science out there on that now, right? 20 years into this surgery, really, there
Luke Jones 26:33
is. But
Nestor Aparicio 26:36
you’d like to see this individual, you’d like to see
Luke Jones 26:38
more science to keep these guys healthy to begin with, though, right? That’s what I’m talking about here. And, I mean, I don’t know, and believe me, I am not going to sit here and act like, I, you know, thump my chest, and say that I know what the solution is, because I don’t, because I
Nestor Aparicio 26:52
sword. I remember back when everybody was juicing and using steroids, if you weren’t cheating, you weren’t trying, right? And now it’s like, if you don’t have the spin, if you don’t have the if you don’t have to stop, usually you’re not. If you’re throwing 86 and you’re 19 years old, you’re not a big league pitcher, right, right?
Luke Jones 27:09
I’m, you know what? Sunday wasn’t the best example of it, because he struggled. But Sugano, we’ve seen what he’s been coming over from Japan. I mean, I’ve talked about this a lot, and I still feel it to a degree, because he doesn’t miss a ton of bats. And you see, if his commands not as sharp, he gets knocked around a little bit more. Now, he’s got six pitches. He’s got 14 years, or however many,
Nestor Aparicio 27:33
and he’s also now max effort. He’s not out throwing nine right every pitch. He is. He is
Luke Jones 27:38
the extreme exception. Now, sure, in the game, and I don’t know what the perfect solution is, because, and I don’t say this to be morbid, but you think back to NASCAR, and when Dale Earnhardt was killed in the Daytona 500 What did they do? They put restrictor plates. You know, they started different safety measures. Restrictor plates, the cars couldn’t go as fast, right? And that meant more safety, improved levels of safety, and no one, thank goodness I’m not a NASCAR guy, but thank goodness no one has been killed in a NASCAR race since then. We’re going on what that was, 2001 it was 25
Nestor Aparicio 28:13
years ago. Yeah, I was sitting, I was on the radio that night, the HANS device. I can, you know, I do a lot of quick google that night on
Luke Jones 28:19
the radio, no question, no question. Again, I I’ve, I’ve thought of that as, I can’t come up with a better example, because there’s no restrictor plate for a pitcher’s arm, right? I mean, I know some people have talked about maybe adding a little bit of weight to the baseball, and maybe that would there’s even, you know, because the pitchers do training with weighted, weighted base, you know, they’re not weighted baseballs or weighted balls. They do different training. And there’s been different thoughts, as far as you know, the safety of that maybe there’s not as much torque because there’s a little more weight. I don’t know. Again, I’m spitballing here, stream of consciousness wise, but, man, it’s just, I mean, this year, no Garrett Cole, no Corbin burns. I
Nestor Aparicio 29:05
mean, well, I would say this to you. I mean, I’ve been doing an identified, an abundance of others, too, mind you, but you’re like, two big names. Injury report for football was very common, right? Yeah, there was an injury report, you know, probable, questionable. Back before Chad Steele was the purveyor of news. There was a real injury report. The Broncos always cheated when they had Shanahan. This is 25 years ago. The baseball injury report was a negligence. It wasn’t like a part of our stick here. You know what I mean, like in the course of Humanity of the Orioles, they would have three to six to eight injuries here and again, 15 man. DL, 15 day. DL, whatever. Sometimes there’d be a 60 day. DL, sometimes bad things would happen, and Tommy and John would come and visit and whatnot. But the injury lists now I just asked you for the infirmary report. Award for the franchise because it’s thicker than Week Six in a Ravens week when they’re playing the bangles. Yeah,
Luke Jones 30:06
it is. And look there, I think there’s, there are multiple things at work there. I mean, we’ve obviously the pitching is the big one that’s at the forefront of the discussion
Nestor Aparicio 30:16
quarterbacks and concussions or something. Yeah,
Luke Jones 30:18
yeah. Like I said. I mean, it’s tough for me to really try to, it’s an epidemic. And I don’t again, I don’t know what the perfect solution is. I really don’t, because, let’s face it, the the pitcher injuries have really, really taken off the last 10 years or so. But it’s it was trending that way longer than that. It’s just it’s become more starts costing
Nestor Aparicio 30:42
you Strasburg, it stinks. I mean,
Luke Jones 30:45
like it stinks. So a couple things at work here. One, I do think players hitched and played through more ailments in the past, as I’ve said to you, and you know, we’ve talked about this plenty of times. There were plenty of pitchers who had career ending arm injuries back in the 60s and 70s. You just they, they got hurt, and then you never heard from them again. Whereas now, guys do come back from Tommy John or or shoulder surgery, different things like that. They might not be the same, even though many times they are so. So there’s that, obviously there’s, you know, a lot of people have talked about with pitching in general, just the specialization of the sport, and this probably dips more so down into the youth levels, in the high school level, where, I mean, you have so many guys that play sports. Us play a sport year round, whereas you used to have the star pitcher, well, he’d play basketball in the winter, he wouldn’t be going to drive line or some specialty coach or something, and just working out all winter be playing basketball. And, you know, in the fall, he wouldn’t be playing fall baseball. He’d be the quarterback for his high school team, right? So, so there’s some of that at work, but you know, I It’s funny, because you know that we’ve, we’ve seen it, not so much with the Orioles this year, but we’ve seen years where obliques, you know, you Yes, you should never hear of obliques and stuff like that, 30 or 40 years ago. And some of it is we’re we like to think of ourselves as more distinguished how we talk about these things, which probably is true in some circles, but not nearly to the degree that we think. But I don’t know. Some of it almost goes back to the whole steroid mindset where, you know, if baseball players were too muscular, is a lot of strain and stress on their joints, and they get hurt more often. I don’t know, but it’s, you know, I do think sometimes teams are a little more apt to, you know, if a guy has a sore hamstring, to put them on the IL for 10 days rather than nurses way through it, you know, be play less than 100% I think there’s a little bit that. I mean, we see that in the NBA big time with load management, right? I mean, compared to guys playing 80 there is a point where you
Nestor Aparicio 32:56
have another guy to come up and play who is 100% Why run him out there? Get him back at 100% yes. So I
Luke Jones 33:01
think that’s part of it. Like, I don’t think it’s, you know, I think there, there’s nuance to this. I think there are layers to it. But, you know, to your, you know, to go back to your original question, and I’ll run it down. They’ve had so many injuries, and I saw it. I cited this with you. This was probably about a month ago, so I don’t know if it’s how accurate it is now, but I know it was back in the month of what may will Carroll, who’s someone used to write for Sports Illustrated, he has an sports injury and, more specifically, a baseball injury sub stack that he still does. I subscribe to it
Nestor Aparicio 33:35
and get him on the show. He’s an old friend at the station, yeah,
Luke Jones 33:37
yeah, yeah. Um, it was about a month ago, he he had cited someone that he trusted, he he hadn’t verified it 100% but he did the rough math and knew that it was close enough that half the players in baseball, and we’re when we say that, I guess, you know, we’re assuming 40 man roster all of that, right? I mean, obviously half the players in baseball were on the IL, when you think about it, the 40 man rosters for all the teams across baseball, roughly or not. Not, sorry, not half a quarter of the players, I think I said half sorry, a quarter of the players and 40 man rosters in baseball were on the IL at that point in time. Now, that number may have improved slightly, may have gotten worse. I mean, who knows? That’s fine on every franchise that’s insane like that is absolutely insane when so what the Orioles have is not insane. It’s typical, um,
Nestor Aparicio 34:31
I
Luke Jones 34:32
don’t know, see, I don’t know if that counted 60 day il as well. Well, I’m just going through all right, some of the guys that they have that are really that’s a crazy number when you think about that, but, yeah, I mean, we’ve talked about it. Look at the Dodgers the last two years. And look the Dodgers spend more money than anyone. We all understand that, right? I mean, it’s we, our last, our most recent discussion, we talked about the uneven playing field. We’ve talked a lot about that, but look how many. The injuries the Dodgers have even had, where not just do they spend money, but they’re also regarded as being really smart and really good, and they have a great farm system and a brilliant General Manager in front office, and yet they had all those injuries, and they can’t keep pitchers healthy, and so you just see all this, and it’s just like, wow. I mean, I’ve said this for a while, now and again. Easier said than done. It’s kind of a captain obvious statement. But the next frontier, when you think in terms of like Moneyball or infield shifting, or, you know what, in most recent years, the chase for velocity and more spin, the next frontier for a team to gain a competitive advantage is wow. If you find some cutting edge Sports Science, Sports Medicine, that can keep players healthier, and you have not. You’re never going to eliminate arm injuries. I mean, arm injuries have existed since pitchers existed, but at this alarming rate that continues to get worse and worse and worse. If you can find something, well, you
Nestor Aparicio 35:56
got to hit my attention coach like Leo Mazzoni, that never got guys hurt and had a certain system, and, you know, nobody would listen to him because he wasn’t a scientist, right?
Luke Jones 36:04
Or maybe, or maybe it’s just a team that says, You know what, we’re going to lean way, way, way harder into command, rather than stuff. I’ll say this, and look, it hasn’t worked out. So don’t this is not me patting my Goliath on the back, obviously, kind of sort of low key. The Orioles tried to do that a little bit with Zach Eflin and with Sagano, who doesn’t walk. You know, even in a bad start on Sunday, he walked one I think you look at his walk rate, look at Eflin career walk rate. These, availability is your best ability, right? But even then, I mean, effluent was hurt and missed a month, right? So I don’t know it’s crazy, but in primary report, big one I want to mention. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it, and certainly we sent out the wnst Baltimore positive text alert on Friday, we found out Ryan mountcastle Eight to 12 weeks with a grade two hamstring strain. I mean, that takes him into August at the earliest. We’re going to see him back. So for me, and I wrote this at Baltimore positive.com Kobe mayo, this is your chance. This is your opportunity. This is a time where I’m not saying he’s necessarily going to play every single day at first base, because I think we’ll see Ryan O’Hearn get more starts at first base in addition to DH. And he gets
Nestor Aparicio 37:19
two hits today, three hits tomorrow, and he don’t, you know, like, that’s how you stay in the
Luke Jones 37:25
lineup, yeah, well, and I’ll say this, I mean, Mayo, look, he still has a long way to go. I’m not saying that he’s looked great since returning. He has looked a little bit better, fewer strikeouts. I think he’s had more competitive at bats. He had a, you know, he’s, he’s had a couple hits whereas, I mean, go look at his numbers from last summer. Go look at his numbers for that very brief cup of coffee he had earlier this year. You know, for Kobe mayo, I’ll say this much. Take, take better advantage of your opportunity than Heston kerstad Did the first two months of the season when Colton cowser was out. I mean, kerstad, Tyler O’Neill’s going to be back here in the not too distant future. We’ll save the punch line of how for how long. But, and Mullins too. Yeah, Mullins gonna be back. So, you know, kersta might find his way back in the miners at this point in time. So if you’re Kobe Mayo knowing that mount Castle is going to be out of the picture, not really. I mean, what else is he going to prove it at triple A? I know he can’t necessarily place team, and they need bats, right? He can be good enough, if he can flash enough, if he you know, I’m not saying it has to be a 290 average with 25 bombs, hit 200 for the time being. Like be comp, at least be competitive, be a functional Major Leaguer where, hey, you’re starting to hit the ball with more authority. You’ve cut down on the strikeouts, which he has since being recalled here last weekend. You know I want to play sweet, yeah, sure. I mean, like he’s got to start somewhere. So you know that with Mount Castle being out, we know mount Castle was struggling mightily. I mean, yeah, they’ll miss his defense at first base. To your point. I mean, Emmanuel Rivera, who I’m guessing is going to be DFA this week. My prediction is, with some of these guys coming back here, in the next in the coming days, he’s going to be one of the guys to go because, you know, he’s the he’s the prototypical quad A player came up last year, did a nice job for a few weeks. I give him credit, but this is kind of who he is, what the more he plays, the more he’s exposed that doesn’t really belong in the majors. So. But you know, with with Kobe mayo, give him starts at first base. I mean, I know they’ve been working big time with him on his defense, junk, the whole third base thing. He’s not a major league third baseman, you know can, let’s just stop with that. Play him at first base, D, H, him. He doesn’t have to play every single game, but he should be in there more, way more days than not at this point. To your point, it’s the last place team right now, and if they’re going to forget about. Getting back into it this year, if they’re going to just be trending in the right direction again, as 25 goes on, and as we start looking more and more towards next year, Kobe Mayo starting to look like he’s figuring it out, and some of these other young players getting themselves back on track and moving in the right direction. I mean, I mentioned Adley rutschman’s looked this is the most he’s looked like Adley rutschman This last week. You know, in a long time, in my opinion. So you want to continue to see that, but it’s all about these young this young core, getting these guys back on track, and not saying they’re all going to I mean, it might be that Heston kerstad isn’t going to figure it out. Kobe Mayo may not figure it out. I mean, if Adley rutschman goes right back into a slump again after this good week. Then at some point we’re going to have to say this might be who he is. Now, I don’t, you know, I’m not ready to say that yet, but the evidence has to be there. So, so in the case of mayo, you don’t want to see him play. I mean, Jordan Westberg is going to be back. You know, Jordan westburg Play third base. Arias will play a little here and there, but Arias is a bench player now, I mean, Jackson holiday is an everyday player. Now, Gunner Henderson everyday player, obviously. So, you know, I might I so much prefer seeing those guys, you know, even if they’re going to take their licks, even if Kobe Mayo still going to scuffle, right? Even if some of these other guys are still going to scuffle. I mean, I’ve seen loriano batting cleanup on Sunday, yeah. And look, I mean, that’s, that’s fine. And Laureano has played well. I look, if you can get a couple lottery tickets for him at the trade deadline, by all means, fine. That’s that. That’s no problem. But for me to really feel better about this organization. It’s about those young guys figuring it out and turning the corner and looking better again over the next few weeks or a few months. You know, Gunner Henderson. Gunners have his season’s been fine. Overall, Gunner Henderson’s not hitting left handed pitching at all. And that’s not to say he was ever phenomenal at it, but he certainly was better than he’s been this year. So, I mean, the lefty, the lefty starter thing. I mean, my goodness, they got to figure this out. I mean, this, I’ve said this tongue in cheek, but they look like they lefty pitchers are aliens to them. I mean, it’s just they can’t figure it out. It’s, it’s, it’s, they have no productivity against left hand. Oh, their lefty numbers are terrible. I saw Jacob Calvin Meyer, the son posted he had Randy Johnson. It was one of Randy Johnson, Cy Young years, obviously Randy Johnson one of the greatest pitchers of all time, one of the greatest left handers of all time. And he talked, he posted, what the slash line was for opposing hitters against Randy Johnson. Think of his one year might have been his career, whatever it was. And the Orioles total numbers against left handed pitching this year almost identical to what those numbers were for the league every
Nestor Aparicio 42:49
left handed Randy Johnson, yeah. I mean, it’s just like,
Luke Jones 42:53
so that’s, that’s where we said, hey, they are playing better, and they are playing better, but boy, they still got a long way to go. You know, I want to see Mayo playing. Jordan Westberg is going to be back. Cows are being backs a good thing. I mean, you know, these are good things. I mean, there, there are good things happening. But as it pertains to the win, loss record, standings, wild card all. I mean, they still, they have such a long, long, long way to go to play superb baseball, and that’s where you look at this series and say, you know, the A’s were woeful going into this weekend, and you lost two out of three to him. It just speaks to that you can’t you can’t afford to lose. To do that if you’re going to try to climb back into this thing here over the next couple months, tigers in
Nestor Aparicio 43:37
and the angels the halos on Friday we’ll be down at fade leaves on Friday, giving away the Back to the Future scratch offs from the Maryland lottery. Luke’s going to join me on Friday. I think Katie pumphrey’s going to be there, and some others. We have 16 different Maryland crab cake tour stops. We’re lining up big thanks to my friend Darren down at deepest Qualis for the most delicious sausage. Had it with some some linguine, some fresh linguini, some each sauce. Oh, we’re gonna do the crab cake tour down at deepest Qualis one day too. Joe told me he had a crab cake down there. So, um, yeah, if you had a crab cake, I’m there for it, believe me, huh? Folks at readers are going to find that at 1623, brewing. We’re getting around the beltway, inside and outside. We’re celebrating 27 years. I’m gonna have my 27th anniversary. I don’t know what I’m gonna do for that might be maybe I’ll do like a donut or peach cake or something like that. He’s Luke. I am Nestor. The Orioles are still losing and we’re still here to talk about it, damn it. We are Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.
