Luke Jones and Nestor discuss Orioles welcoming of Albernaz and hope for Elias offseason of acquistions

Is it the job of the Orioles manager to recruit the community? Well, someone or something has to be a part of driving the Baltimore baseball brand forward this offseason. Luke Jones and Nestor welcome new skipper Craig Albernaz and discuss their hopes for improvements and acquisitions in this offseason that Mike Elias will be judged daily on progress.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent press conference introducing new manager Craig Albernaz. Albernaz was praised for his comfort, wit, and family-oriented demeanor. Stephen Vogt, his former bench coach, highlighted Albernaz’s work ethic and attention to detail. Jones emphasized the need for the Orioles to engage fans and improve their offseason strategy. He noted the team’s attendance decline and the importance of sustained success. Aparicio criticized the organization’s lack of community engagement and called for more visible efforts to re-engage fans. Both agreed that the Orioles need to make significant improvements to regain fan interest.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Identify ways for the Orioles to be more engaged with the community and fans in the offseason.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Determine the number of Orioles-focused pieces that should be produced between now and Super Bowl Sunday.

Orioles’ New Manager Announcement and Initial Impressions

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the Maryland crab cake tour and upcoming events, including a press conference at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
• Nestor mentions being uninvited to the press conference and introduces Luke Jones as a co-host for the week.
• Luke Jones shares his impressions of new manager Craig Albernaz, describing him as comfortable, witty, and excited about the role.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the presence of Stephen Vogt, the manager of the Cleveland Guardians, at the press conference, highlighting their close relationship and mutual respect.

Stephen Vogt’s Support and Managerial Experience

• Luke Jones elaborates on Stephen Vogt’s support for Craig Albernaz, emphasizing their long-standing friendship and professional growth.
• Vogt’s presence at the press conference is seen as a testament to Albernaz’s work ethic, attention to detail, and willingness to challenge.
• Nestor Aparicio compares the camaraderie at the press conference to similar events in the NFL, noting the rarity of such support.
• Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the importance of having a supportive bench coach for Albernaz, given the expected changes in the Orioles’ coaching staff.

Craig Albernaz’s Handling of the Press Conference

• Luke Jones praises Albernaz’s comfort and eloquence during the press conference, contrasting it with Mike Elias’s perceived stiffness.
• Albernaz’s ability to handle the press conference is seen as a positive sign for his ability to manage the team’s public relations.
• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the importance of the manager being a front-facing figure for the organization.
• Albernaz’s analogy comparing his transition to managing to John Harbaugh’s transition from Joe Flacco to Lamar Jackson is highlighted as a well-executed example.

Orioles’ Leadership and Offseason Strategy

• Nestor Aparicio expresses skepticism about the Orioles’ leadership, including Mike Elias, David Rubenstein, and Katie Griggs.
• The conversation touches on the need for the Orioles to be more engaged with their fans and the community during the offseason.
• Nestor emphasizes the importance of the Orioles winning press conferences and being relevant in the offseason to re-engage fans.
• Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the challenges of sustaining fan interest and the need for the Orioles to make significant improvements to their team.

Challenges of Fan Engagement and Community Recruitment

• Nestor Aparicio criticizes the Orioles’ lack of community engagement and recruitment efforts, noting the need for more visible and active outreach.
• Luke Jones acknowledges the difficulty of sustaining fan interest in a team that has struggled for decades.
• The conversation highlights the importance of the Orioles’ offseason actions in shaping fan perception and engagement.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the Orioles’ offseason moves on fan interest and ticket sales.

Reflections on Past Management and Future Hopes

• Nestor Aparicio reflects on the past management of the Orioles, including the impact of figures like Buck Showalter and Mike Elias.
• The conversation touches on the need for the Orioles to learn from past mistakes and make meaningful changes to improve their performance.
• Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the potential for Albernaz to be a transformational leader for the Orioles.
• The conversation concludes with a focus on the importance of the Orioles’ offseason actions in setting the stage for future success.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles, Albernaz, Elias, offseason acquisitions, press conference, Craig Albernaz, Stephen Vogt, managerial experience, fan engagement, community outreach, ticket sales, team performance, leadership, Baltimore, baseball.

SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively, taking the show on the road. This week we have the Maryland crab cake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery. I’ll have Raven scratch offs to give away. We’re going to be at Cocos on Wednesday, one of my favorite places. Got some great guests coming over. Rasig is out of town, so I have a different co host this week. Then on Friday, we’re going to be back in Essex at Pizza John’s, where I am sure to get a double Provolone cheesesteak and probably want some meat sauce on my pizza proper down in Essex. So we’re going to be pizza John’s on Friday. We’re all smart people get their pizza, even the Dundalk people going over to Essex for all that. Here’s a guy with some Essex roots, and he does enjoy himself with Pete’s John’s Pizza this week, though it’s it’s all things Vikings as we get ready for football and a baseball week in a rare baseball press conference at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in early November to announce new manager, Craig albornaz. I was uninvited because, you know, why would they want me there? Luke was there, and I don’t know if you got to meet Mr. Rubenstein. I, I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Rubenstein a year ago, almost a year ago, tomorrow night, actually, tomorrow, Friday. That’d be a year a year ago that I met Mr. Rubenstein. How was it? How was the new thing down there? Certainly an impressive guy, despite his crazy accent. Yeah.

Luke Jones  01:22

I mean, it’s funny. You asked me that initially, before we started our conversation here on the air. But of the three talking about Mike Elias, David Rubenstein and Craig albornez, Craig Albert, Nestor, he was impressive. He comes across as very comfortable. He’s got a wit to him.

Nestor Aparicio  01:41

I think manzalino Looks so uncomfortable from the beginning, like there’s never a point that dude look comfortable ever.

Luke Jones  01:47

I mean, he got more comfortable as the season went on. But, but Right, right. I mean, no question, but he just, he was self deprecating enough. You know, in terms of, he’s short, he’s only five foot eight. He has the thick accent, which even Rubenstein teased him about at one point during the press conference, but he just came across as very comfortable, and he came across as someone who’s really excited about being a major league manager, really excited about being in Baltimore. His three kids and his wife were there and talked glowingly about his family. You can tell that his family means a lot to him. And I think the biggest takeaway for me, and this sounds funny because I was just talking about him and how he handled himself, but I thought that Stephen Vogt traveled to Baltimore to be there, the manager of the Cleveland guardians, and his close friend going back to them playing in the minors together, and for him to travel to Baltimore to be at the press conference for his close friend who was his bench coach and they grew together. Keep in mind, Stephen boat was a first time manager a couple years ago with Cleveland, and he he spoke so glowingly of albornaz and his work ethic, his attention to detail, his love for the game, his love for players, his willingness to challenge. He talked about the number of times they’ve they have arguments to the point where it almost becomes a fight, but, but how they were total pros, and then five minutes later, they’re fine and all that. But I think it said a lot about someone where his old boss and his close friend thought thinks so much of him that he wanted to be there on Tuesday that just that resonated with me and and Albert, as as much as he talks so glowingly about his wife and his three kids and his family. He he came closest to getting choked up when he acknowledged Stephen vote being there. And I just that was cool, you know? I just that was something that you don’t necessarily hear a lot about. Like, I don’t

Nestor Aparicio  03:54

know, the last time I had a press conference where, I mean, this is what, when the Ravens have press conference, they bring the players in, and guys come in the side door, or whatever. Guys get contracts on the team, you know, whatever, there is that camaraderie. I don’t know. The last time I’ve seen a buddy come with someone to show support, I’m not sure I know about that, right?

Luke Jones  04:16

And like, put it in context, think of how many former assistants John Harbaugh has had and look not, not steering into anything about Harbaugh individually, just a general comparison, because I think that’s it’s the case in most places where I don’t think John Harbaugh ever traveled to the city of his assistant becoming a head coach, and attended the press conference like I’ve Never, I don’t I haven’t heard of that very often over the years, players, yes, you know, contract extension and teammates show up. Yes, I just that that was something that just seemed cool to me. And we even had a chance to talk to Stephen vote for five minutes after the press conference, and again, almost like a brotherly relationship. Relationship that those two have, like I said, I mean, he said that, look, just because I was the manager. I mean, he said Craig disagreed with me a lot, and we had arguments and times, at times it got heated, but we were better for it, like our ball club was better for it. And he said how they kind of both grew into that role, and he kind of used it through the lens of, okay, Albornoz is going to take some some lessons from Stephen Vogt as he becomes a new manager, but he says that he wouldn’t have been nearly as successful in Cleveland. Wouldn’t have been as successful with Albornoz there the last couple years. So I just thought that was an interesting dynamic. Again, not something that you generally hear, not saying it’s completely unprecedented. But, you know, I there are no examples that really come to mind where someone’s old boss thinks so much of someone that they get a gig and they’re coming to that city to attend the press conference. I just that seemed pretty neat. And, you know, I think it offers a glimpse into what we’ve been hearing from the time that Albornoz was hired, and look you and I talked about it in the aftermath of that of the news breaking, that I can’t sit here and say that I was intimately familiar with this individual. I had heard of him. I knew he had been in the mix for some other jobs going back to last year, and he said at that point he just didn’t feel like he was truly ready just yet, whereas he felt like another year under his belt and being the Cleveland gave him the associate manager title, he talked a lot about how vote and their front office very much included him in managerial duties, right? I mean, we think about the manager in the dugout spitting sunflower seeds and walk into the mound and making a pitching change. That’s about 5% of the job. I mean, they even talked about about it in those terms, but they really exposed him to everything Stephen Vogt was doing as the manager. He was there, and he was taking part, and he was observing that and offering feedback and being involved in those types of things, plenty

Nestor Aparicio  06:59

of those guys that are on the cusp, and I know this from the football side and the baseball side, but the baseball side was always different. It was much more old boy and buddy system, and like all of that now, it’s much more streamlined and much more computer and much more you’re on your computer all day, and you’re at the ballpark all day, maybe on your computer as much as you’re in the cages and on the video, as much as you’re into anything on the computer, right? But for me, with football, anytime any of the guys got close, and I’ve known so many of them, right, I mean, in my lifetime, starting with Jim Schwartz and Marvin Lewis trying to get a job back in the late 90s, and Billick getting the job, and Billick and I becoming close, and him hiring all sorts of assistance and how and why, and you know who’s available, and who used to be a coach and who was a head coach. And like all of that, there is a brotherhood in that world that is. And this speaks to John Harbaugh, being groomed by Andy Reid, which was John, you want to be a head coach? You got to go coach the secondary. I’m going to give you that chance. I’m going to make sure that I’m putting you in a position where one day you can be a head coach. And that’s kind of what every assistant coach wants, needs and expects, is that you’re not going to get in their way of maximizing their career when they’re on that track to being in any of these sports businesses, the assistant to the assistant or position coach, whatever it would be that you’re being groomed to be a head coach at every moment of every day, if that’s what you think, your job is going to be down the line, and it is incumbent upon whatever groups around you to teach you how to do that. There’s no other place you can learn how to do that, other than in that vocation, than being on the job, right? So that is really good to hear from a press conference standpoint, is that he sort of has been very, very exposed to what being a manager is,

Luke Jones  08:53

yeah, which you like hearing for someone who is a first time major league manager, right? I mean, as we talked about, I mean, this isn’t someone who has a lot of experience in in terms of truly holding that title. I mean, he’ll be only managed. Was only a manager in the minor leagues for two years in Tampa Bay. He’s been a coach, but, and

Nestor Aparicio  09:13

this is where you bring the veteran guy with you to sit on the end, you know, you bring another Don Zimmer, or, you know, some sure feeling at the end of the bench or something like that, right?

Luke Jones  09:22

Yeah, and that’s where I think it’s going to be key as we see the coaching staff start to develop, and it’s become very apparent with some of the reporting that’s been done that the Orioles aren’t bringing back most, most of their coaches are gone. I mean, maybe they keep a couple, right? We’ll see how that plays out, but it’s I think that’s going to be an important role in the same way that I think for Stephen Vogt, who has been this Manager of the Year caliber Skipper in Cleveland the last two years, where I think he’s going to need a different bench coach that is doesn’t necessarily need to be this veteran with managerial experience, but he’s going to be missing Craig Albert as base. In the way that he talked about him. So, you know, obviously that’s going to be important. Obviously it’s going to be important to put together a staff. But I think you know, to bring it back to Albert NES, he just, he seemed very comfortable handling himself there in a in contrast to even at when Mike Elias has been perceived in the best possible light, kind of wooden, kind of stiff in terms of talking to the media, even when things are going great, has never been someone that is going to wow you from a press conference standpoint. And look at the end of the day, winning the press conference. What does that get you right? I mean, ultimately, it’s you know what you do and your actions and who you sign and and all of that. But I think with Albers, to your point, you’ve talked a lot about trying to this team, trying to sell itself. Greg Albert, as you know, I’m not saying he’s going to be all around town kissing babies and shaking hands and doing everything that anyone thinks a manager should do per se, but in terms of just the press conference, just so a 45 minute introductory press conference, you know, he came across as comfortable. It didn’t feel too big for him. He came across as eloquent. I mean, at one point in time, he was asked about, you know, applying what he did in Cleveland, or philosophies that he had in Cleveland or in Tampa Bay or the Giants, you know, when he was their bullpen coach. And he he made a really good analogy that probably was rehearsed, but it didn’t feel forced in the sense that he brought up the ravens, and he said, Look, John Harbaugh had a really interesting transition going from Joe Flacco to Lamar Jackson, where you’re talking about two quarterbacks great in their very different ways, very different skill sets. They adapted their offense. And, you know, he, he didn’t do it in a way where it sounded like someone fed him that information and it sounded awkward or clunky. He said it in a way that I would believe that he watches football. Yeah, he’s football fan. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, that’s just one example. I’m not saying that that automatically means he’s going to be a great manager, but he felt very comfortable under the microscope, and that’s a big part of the job. I mean, we’ve talked about this. I mean, for as much as the 2025 season was an utter disaster. We heard way more from Tony mancelino Every single day than we hear from Mike Elias or David Rubenstein, Rubinstein or arroghetti or whoever, right? I mean, the manager, just like John Harbaugh, we hear about hear from him way more than we hear from Eric de Costa, right? You’re the front facing figurehead of the organization on a daily basis, especially in season. So what we saw on Tuesday makes me think that Albornoz can handle that part of the job. That doesn’t mean he’s gonna be a great manager. Did

Nestor Aparicio  12:49

anybody ask Elias how well he knows Albert Nestor? Is there any relationship at all? Or did they sort of just meet in six weeks ago and or three weeks ago in a in a, Hey, I’m gonna hire you when six weeks ago, your guy was playing baseball three weeks ago.

Luke Jones  13:03

I mean, certainly they Elias was asked about, you know, how did you decide on him? How did you come to Him, in terms of, like, and he never offered, like, a specific connection. It wasn’t like, oh, we both knew Joe Blow from our our days in St Louis, or, you know, something like, there wasn’t anything like that, but you just got the sense. And, you know, Rubenstein said this as well, that as they talk to various people about the job, you know, about the managerial opening, there were so many people that just said, Okay, well, this candidate’s good, but Albert has, like, if you can get him, like, if he’s ready to leave Cleveland, that’s the guy. It just seems there were so many people across the industry that felt that way, and we’ve that that that’s in line with what we’ve heard. I mean, and again, we don’t know if he’s going to be a great manager. I don’t know that. You don’t know that no one truly knows someone is going to be a great manager. I mean, heck, we’ve seen great managers. He’ll be a great manager if his players play. And that’s right, and it still comes back to that at the end of the day, we’ll get Sam prolazzo might have been the greatest manager of all time, but he’d have players. Earl Weaver didn’t look like the same genius when he was, you know, when he came back and the Orioles were a much diminished roster. You know, when Larry sheets is a clean up hitter, 79 or not? Eddie Murray, yeah, so, so we all understand that. But, you know, you just got the sense that no matter who they were talking to, or other candidates that they had, that they were interviewing that that it just kept coming back to him being the guy that felt like the star, right, felt like the guy that made the most sense, you know, check the most boxes. I, you know, Elias said exactly what I said to you, you know, from from the moment we talked about it, and we’re literally looking at Albert Nestor Wikipedia page, right? Because you didn’t know a whole lot about him, or I went to the Guardians media guide and read the page on him, right? But he talked a lot about the fact that. The fact that he worked in Tampa, in Tampa Bay system, you know the Giants, you know, not, not the same giants of 15 years ago, but still an organization that carries some cachet, right, certainly has some tradition. And his work there and then Cleveland the last couple years. So I mean you especially when you talk about Tampa Bay and Cleveland, there are few examples better than those two organizations in terms of getting the most out of what they’re spending and what they’re doing, what you

Nestor Aparicio  15:30

think the Orioles are going to be, but they’re more you know, we have these sister cities and other countries. You try to make them the same size. You know, our sister city in Japan is not Tokyo, you know what I mean? And so this isn’t running the Yankees or the Dodgers. This is running, you know, as he sits next to Mr. Rubenstein, I don’t know what they think their ceiling is on. And listen, you and I will go down a long, ugly path about their offseason and selling tickets and Katie Triggs and what the manager represents and doesn’t represent, and what should and should be happening with a franchise that is dormant every offseason and has been for 30 years, literally, and had a creep for an owner that they’ve never really gotten out from under. They’ve never really gotten away from Angelos yet, although they’re trying, but part of that is they lost a half a million fans this year. They finished in last place this year. So you know, I’m not going to come in this with kid gloves from another press conference that I was banned from being at and saying, things have changed around there. Nothing’s changed around there, to me, other than names and hats. And I’m not sure that David Rubenstein is any more competent as an owner than Peter Angelos was, or any more willing to spend what perceived wealth he has on overpaying baseball players to come to Baltimore, to maybe sell some tickets, to maybe make the optics better, to maybe discount the tickets, because that’s what it’s going to take. And Katie doesn’t understand that. I saw her last week like they think they’re a premium this and a premium that, and they’re beating out home plate, and they didn’t even hire Janet Marie to do it. And what does she care? She held the trophy the other night in Toronto. So they’re doing a lot of things around here that I look at and say, I wouldn’t do it that way, but I’ve only lived here my whole life and observed it my whole life. But I’m I’m just the a hole with the long hair, who’s the Hispanic guy that gets locked out and they let you in, and not me and but like, they have so much work to do on the business side of promoting Craig Albert as what they’re doing, trying to be in people’s DNA over the next four or five months, so that they’re not completely dormant. And the ravens are going to be whatever they are. I mean, the next couple of weeks, they have to win football games just to be relevant. Otherwise, we’re shoveling dirt on them in three weeks, and we won’t have that going on. And I don’t mean that the the Orioles need to be out on every free agent and making headlines and signing five guys in the off season, but they need to maximize whatever the off season is for them that I don’t even know what I’m talking about, Luke, because I haven’t seen it here in 30 years. I haven’t seen anything that looks like a heartbeat. So when I see this press conference that I was banned from, that you were there, and I go and see that there aren’t a lot of comments that people weren’t really watching it in real time, that nobody knows who he is. So there can be no like opinion on him, other than Stephen votes opinion from the fan base perspective. I just would like to see them become a better company, become a better business in the offseason, because, and I know what you’re going to get me, and I know everybody’s listening. Ain’t nobody coming until they win. They’re going to win. Well, they can’t win anything before June of next year, like for us to figure out whether they’re any good or not. So between now and next June, what can they do? What can they do? Well, win some press conferences right. Be hands on. Be involved. Be recruiting people who may be disengrunt disenchanted or disgruntled Ravens fans who don’t go to the games anymore. I’m one of those guys. I have money, I like baseball. Engage me. Well, that’s all. And I think the press conference to your point, David Rubenstein’s level of engagement is having that goof that whistles the national anthem be a front man for all the Alaskan oil nonsense that he’s doing and all the awful things David Rubenstein is doing to the planet that the Liberals will get after him on. But Mike Elias is a zero in recruitment. He is I would have fired him for firing the manager and hiding for three and a half days. And if I had a press pass on Tuesday, and I know this would have cost you your press pass, but if I would have been there to ask a question, I would have said, Hey, Mike, you fired your manager five months ago, you now have your new manager. Do you have any regrets about how that went down back in June? Do you have any like Do you have any any thoughts at all, as you sit next to the new manager that you would fire him three years from now and hide for four and a half days in Milwaukee and then show back up at the press conference five months later after a last play season where. Half a million people went away and say, Here’s your new guy. We’re going to win it all next year.

Luke Jones  20:06

I mean, I’ll go back to something you said. I mean, nothing changes until it changes, right? I mean, they have a heck of a lot to prove across the board. I mean, I’m going to continue to remain focused on what they need to do on the field. Because I still think, I still think that’s not to say everything you ask, everything else you mentioned, is not important, because it is. But if you have all that stuff, and even if you do all that stuff to a better degree, people still aren’t going to come at the product stinks. Right? The product stunk this at this past year.

Nestor Aparicio  20:37

So product is stunk most of your lifetime. So that’s not, that’s that’s really, really. People ask me, I was at the associated Italian charities the other night, right? And I pissed a lot of the guys. It’s all dudes, all Italian dudes, all my age or older, for the most part, Republicans just I had a lot of that going on. But I’m like, What’s last ball games you guys went to all white guys, all Baltimore guys, all Baltimore accents, every one of you. If Mike bordick walked in the room, you’d recognize him. So don’t tell me you’re not a sports fan or a baseball fan, and that’s just a middling guy might doesn’t have to be Brooks Robinson or Cal Ripken walking in that we’re baseball people. We’re a Baltimore we’re Baltimore people. When’s the last ball game you went to 80 guys in the room? Two of them said I went to more than five games last games last year. And I’m thinking, well, if they’re getting us, if they aren’t getting the people who built the team, who have all of these memories in the 90s and the Angelos memories, and we’re and remember 83 because we’re old enough to remember that. And when they all heard my name was Aparicio, oh, my god, especially the guys over 75 in the room. Oh, Aparicio, man. You know that means something to them. I don’t know what would mean anything to fans in this offseason. And to your point, there’s always so much they can do if they if they buy a $200 million player they trade for Otani. Does that mean that tickets get sold here, or that everybody runs back like orange lemmings? I know you’re a little younger, but you’re an old soul. I’ve been doing this 35 years here, and I can’t begin to tell you how many Novembers and December’s and January’s and February’s where I sat here, took phone calls. I brought Mike Flanagan on when he’s running at Jim Beatty, whatever. To talk about their off seasons in regard to them not going away, not being like a bear and going in the back of the cave and coming out in hibernation and saying, oh, it’s opening day. You know when things were going well here and wells relative, because they had something here that was an inferno when you were a boy, where Monday, they’re signing Robbie Alomar, Thursday, they’re signing Jimmy key. The next Monday, they’re signing BJ surhoff. Let’s deal for David Wells and Scott Erickson. I mean, they were a real thing, and that was part of the soap opera, of following it, being passionate about it, buying Christmas ornaments on your tree, buying Junior Oriole packages to give the little Luke and Justin for, you know, a Christmas time to go to the ballpark next year. Because we’re excited about going to the ballpark, they need to do some work, more work than I saw Katie Griggs doing for my 100 bucks last Tuesday at the Baltimore Business Journal event. And this is all new now. Mr. Rubenstein is giving out his bobble heads. He’s done his papa wave. He has his brand. They have a manager. They’re a last place team that is perceived to have a lot of money that these rich guys want to spend. And then I look at the real bottom line when Katie Griggs looks at the numbers and says, Where’s the media money, where’s the promotional money, where’s the advertising money, where’s the national money, where are our ticket sales? Where are our suite sales, where? Where’s our game day revenue when nobody’s here, like, where’s this money coming from? Katie, as Michael era Getty comes down the hallway, Mr. Big Mr. Make It Rain, and I don’t know who they’re buying in the off season. I just know they need to win some press conferences. And I don’t mean that in any trick way. I mean like they need to be relevant in the off season, because this nonsense of they need to win that that’s the only thing that’s going to matter. That will matter once it comes it’s everything they do between now and when they win, that matters. And recruiting 100 men that I had in the room the other night that don’t go to baseball games, who all went to baseball games. And a lot of them had the, well, I don’t go to the city. You know, the city’s not safe and like so I had that. I had the fox 45 News Group going too, but nobody has any problem going down there on 2131 night, nobody has any problem going down there, when Morgan wallins in town, or when the right concerts at the arena, or when the right ball games at the arena, or if Caitlin Clark’s in town, like so I don’t I call BUPKIS on all of that part of the Orioles experience that they should be a part of talking about how safe it is, and what they’re doing and what they’re doing for fans. But this speaks to Lee. Leadership and Rubenstein zero for me, a 02 years into this, and he was at the press conference, Elias drafting baseball players. I’ll give him a thumbs up on that. The rest of the job, including being front facing, firing his manager, and hiding for four days being the mouse on the on the dace on Tuesday. I hope that albornaz Is this transformational leader and a front guy for them, and everything that you and I are glowing about today because somebody asked me, a guy who didn’t like me asked me at this event the other night, you like seeing them lose don’t you for what they did to you? I’m like, you think, after 35 years of this shit that I want to sit here and watch them finish in last place again next year? Like, seriously, you think that I get my rocks off on them losing no nothing good happens when these teams lose. Now that being said, Nothing good happens when Justin Tucker’s rubbing down women, or when they’re doing stupid things, or even when the general manager is firing the manager on a Saturday, when things are falling apart on Preakness Saturday, and then hiding for four days, and then they put him back on the day six months later, and say, this is leadership. It’s not leadership to me. Mike Elias, no bueno now. Craig Albert, is could be thumbs up. Katie Griggs, no bueno. David Rubenstein, double, no bueno, just it’s been, it’s been a real disappointment from that opening day a year and a half ago when the bridge went down and there was this new hope since then, my God, their last 18 months have been a disaster in in almost every measurable way, down to gunner Henderson and Adley rutchman. And, you know, other than Trevor Rogers and radishes aren’t falling off twice in him coming back. Like I for me, I just want to see the next five months where you and I are forced to talk about them in some way. Like, literally, make me talk about you make me interested in you. Get me interested in you. That’s my offseason message to the billionaires, the general manager who hides the team president that’s banning me because I did a walkout on Peter effing Angelos 20 years ago, that he shit burger he richly deserved 20 years ago. And but I would say this for all of them, they’re in charge now it’s a new group. Miss Seattle’s in town. She’s getting the all star game. They got lots of money, money, money, money, money. They got the greatest stadium. We gave them $600 million to put you in left field, in the press box. And now they have the best manager in the marketplace. And I would agree with that. They got they got the top of school guy now, how they going to have a top of school offseason, on and off the field, on and off the field, because it’s the stuff that matters that builds the fact that I’m interested in them come opening day, not that they go away from me like they might to your brother and your sister and your mother, and they come back again on March 25 or whenever opening day is against the twins, doesn’t seem that far off. Somehow, you’re in November already. But they need to make you, and I talk about them, and that’s my monolog that I’ve gone on forever about it. But they need to make those men in that room the other night care and their grandsons and granddaughters, so that people do care about them because they can’t win until June or July. I’m with you on that, and they need to be more relevant than that. Yeah. I

Luke Jones  28:27

mean, look, I’m not disagreeing with what you’re saying. They’ve got to sustain. I mean, they need to balance the here and now and doing everything they can to make it better right now, to your point, having an off season where they’re more engaged, and it’s not just completely in the shadows, and look, a lot of it’s going to be in the shadows, because other than you know, the other than the NFL with they make a tent pole event out of everything you know, right where, I mean, the schedule release is an event. All these sports have some of that that goes on, where you go away for a little while, right? I mean, you’re not going to sign, you’re not going to sign 30 free agents to have a press conference every three days in the offseason, but you certainly need to do better in that regard. You certainly need to be engaging. You certainly need to touch your fans as much as you can.

Nestor Aparicio  29:23

Stay at the Italian event that I asked these guys. I’m like, Yeah, you’re underwhelmed by the kid from Dundalk with the long hair here. Where are the orders of the Ravens out here doing community things? Where are they? I don’t see them. You know? It’s either me or Mike Preston. Those are your choices. So, you know? So I still think, like, they make a lot more money than I do, or you do. They should be out seeing their fans, seeking their fans, recruiting their recruiting this community. They need to recruit this community with the guy from the haba and the Boston act like that’s not recruiting the community. He might be the world’s greatest guy, but that video last week was just sort of like, say. That that was not a great that was not a come on for me to watch the press conference, or to buy tickets, or to get the Christmas ornaments, or to go down to their power hour, or to hit their caravan, because they’ve got the sick defense. They have they have people that will take the Birdland thing, that if it’s 20% more, they’ll pay it. They have those people. They have to keep those people happy. But I don’t, I know, 30 years of losing recruited them. So I hasn’t recruited me, and it has recruited a lot of people. But and you love baseball, and I love baseball, I just want to be recruited, that’s all. And I don’t care if they’ve been nice to me or not. That’s not even the point. I care that they’re nice to everybody else. You’re in that warehouse yesterday, does your DNA and feeling feel like Peter Angelos is dead and gone and John’s not coming back, and that it feels new and fresh and exciting, and that these are the greatest people, and the Katie grace is at the front door, and all of Romanians are there to smile at you instead of do what they’ve done for 30 years, which is look at you like you cut a fart. What me you anybody do you walk in there and feel like there’s new oxygen, because there has to be, because the old oxygen was horrific. It was horrific. Everything about it was

Luke Jones  31:07

horrific. I already said to you that I agree, nothing changes until it changes, but I still think, look, you keep talking about recruiting people, I’ll keep giving you the same boring answer that you don’t want to hear. I don’t care so much about you being at this or that, like, Who are you signing? Who’s going to be in the road? No, I’m just that’s, you’re right. That’s the truth,

Nestor Aparicio  31:28

and it’s part of winning the offseason is the press conference. The press conference is all you have in the offseason. You’re

Luke Jones  31:33

gonna damn well win it. No, I mean, what you have in the off season is making your baseball team better. I mean, that’s, that’s what it is. I don’t think the press conference is as important as what you were saying. It is, winning is paramount and sustained. Winning is paramount, but they can’t do that until then. I understand that, but that’s why I’m saying, that’s why I’m saying there’s, there’s only so much they’re going to be able to do that’s going to truly recruit now that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. I’d love to see them bring back Fan Fest. I love Fan Fest as a kid. Are they going to not hold my breath? Should they? Yeah, but that said, I don’t. Part of the issue here is you’ve lost two generations of fans who aren’t going to give you, aren’t going to be engaged in the offseason. And

Nestor Aparicio  32:19

you know what? If I were here with Katie Griggs, she would interrupt me. Not that our fans are fine. We’re just where they’re just they’re here like I have their phone numbers, you know, like they have never acknowledged how awful this is, not it, not even in any unovert way, to not piss on Angela. I’ll take care of that. I’ll take care of Angelos legacy. I’ll be the guy for that. They don’t have to be like that, but they have to acknowledge what you just acknowledge, which is, it’s the thing people won’t acknowledge about how crazy Trump is and how demented all of this is. Is like, if you can’t look at the obvious, you always say, call a spade a spade. Some people are offended by that term. But like, if you can’t look at it and see it for what it is. If they’re going to push back on how they’ve lost two generations, they would argue they would stop you dead in your tracks, the way I did, Bob, we’re not we’re not gonna admit that. We’re not gonna admit the obvious truth. You know that the stadium is empty, and there’s no acknowledgement of that. And I’m telling Can I you finish up? Because I have something I got to tell you. It’s going to make you laugh. Because,

Luke Jones  33:24

I mean, I was just going to say and you’ve got to sustain it. I mean, look, I’ve been covering the team since 2010 when, when they went from 2011 to 2012 where, in an 11, they were in last place. 2012 they make the playoffs for the first time. In what 15 years, their attendance went from 1.7 to 2.1 the following year, 2.3 next year, 2.4

Nestor Aparicio  33:43

and you know what? Buck Showalter was really good at recruiting the community.

Luke Jones  33:47

He was but it was fleeting, right? A couple years ago. I mean, they drew just under 2.3 in 2024 they went up from they went from 136, to 193, from 222, to 23 now that was also coming out of covid era and all that, but there was growth. But if you don’t sustain that, it’s just gonna dip right back down, right? I mean, we talked about this a decade ago when the Kansas City Royals won the World Series, right? You know people very well in Kansas City, you know, media friends and all that. And

Nestor Aparicio  34:19

I never thought it was forever when I’m in there, it was a sea of blue, and we were there for the for the fireworks that night. That’s kind of said,

Luke Jones  34:25

but that’s how it is most places, right? I mean, that’s we’re a front runner society. I mean, we just are right for every, for every team and fan base and franchise in major team professional sports in North America. You know that’s like the Cubs, you have 10 other teams that if you stink, no one should come into the games. And if you’re mediocre, not many people are coming to the games, right? If you’re great, people will show up, if you’re great, for a long period of time, that people will show up for a long period of time. But you’ve got to sustain that. To me, that the. Needs to be a requisite level. I mean, the look at the Ravens. I mean, you talk about teams that have sustained a really high level for the better part of a quarter century now, and yet, look how empty the stadium was against the Texans and against the Rams. Now that’s not a commentary on Baltimore or Baltimore fans. I think that’s a commentary just where we are as a society with major professional sports, and also understanding, yeah, it is expensive, and yeah, watching it on TV is a really good experience, way better than it was 20 years ago, because my TV’s 55 inches or 70 inches or whatever, and the beer is cheap and food’s cheap and all that, and I have to subscribe to five different satellite or streaming

Nestor Aparicio  35:44

you have no idea how pissed I was at Amazon Prime last Thursday. We’re not trying to stream that game, right? But all of that level of frustration as a lifelong fan is make it easier than this for me, right?

Luke Jones  35:56

Pull back the curtain a little bit on me personally right now I’m a YouTube TV subscriber right now, for my quote, cable, they’re in a dispute with ESPN. Now, I’m fortunate enough that I have an antenna, and I have an open sky to the South that I can get all my over the air channels free. So I was able to watch Monday Night Football on W Mar channel two. But everything I’m paying for, for YouTube, TV, Amazon, peacock, go down the list of all the different you know, and I don’t have all of them, but I have enough of them, right? And yet, there was college football games on Saturday that I couldn’t watch, right? So that’s part of the consumer frustration, or just the reality of if the Orioles are going to raise prices, and they’re not that good, and they’ve been bad for most of my lifetime, to the point where I’m not a dyed in the wool die hard living, you know, live and breathe with the Orioles. And I don’t mean myself. I’m just talking as your average 42 year old from this area, then, no, I’m not going to get a 20 game plan, especially when you eliminated the 13 game plan. You know what I mean, like? So I just there’s a lot there. And I don’t mean that to make it sound totally defeatist, I just mean it’s not just about this offseason. It’s not just about 2026 they’ve got to sustain this thing. We’ve you, and I’ve talked about that a lot in terms of what their long term health of that brand is ever going to be, and I don’t again, that doesn’t not sitting here saying that it means they won’t exist 20 years from now, but the idea of some vision of this thing being great again. I mean, I’d love to see that, but, man, it just, it’s been so long that it’s been great. I mean, you have to go back to when I was a baby. That was the end of it, you know, from the mid 60s through the mid 80s, of this team being as practically the Yankees of that era, you know, or one of those teams in that, in that select group. So, I mean, it’s, and

Nestor Aparicio  37:59

they’re still eating off of that when they’re giving out boogal bobbles, right? And look that. And

Luke Jones  38:03

there’s nothing wrong with with that being part of it, but that can’t be the only thing. I mean, we it was so illu it was so eye opening to me. And I talked about this at the time when they had the Hall of Fame night for Adam Jones going into the Orioles Hall of Fame. I’ve said it. I know Alan, and I have talked about you. You’ve talked about it with Alan. I’ll continue to say Adam Jones is the most important player they’ve had since Cal Ripken. He’s still beloved in this town. They didn’t sell out for that game, and I don’t think that has anything to do with Adam Jones. I think that has to do with the disdain and frustration. And this, they also

Nestor Aparicio  38:42

had 100,000 people that went to the bananas three days later. Literally, right? I had money into that and say, Hey, I’m spending $200 at bananas on Friday. I’m not going to the Oreo game the Friday before. I mean, literally, there’s a little

Luke Jones  38:53

bit of that too. I mean, there’s all, there’s there’s always that. I mean, you’re the difference between a special event or a specific concert and a team that plays 81 games, the bananas cost

Nestor Aparicio  39:03

them tickets last summer for sure, like people made that the night that they did in August, instead of last place baseball.

Luke Jones  39:09

Literally, okay. I mean, I guess, I suppose I, I still, I think I still think that’s an apples to oranges comparison. I mean, the bananas, if the bananas played 81 times in Baltimore, they’re not selling out. 81 100 100% so agree with that, but your point is noted. The point is there are lots of different ways to spend disposable income, and when you have a franchise that has been as bad as they have been for the better part of four decades now, you have to compete. You are not going to just get people’s disposable income, because that’s how they do it, right? That’s what they’ve always done that, that that mindset that existed back in the 90s and even into the

Nestor Aparicio  39:46

early two you have no idea, when they threw me out, started treating me like shit back at the turn of the century, their whole thing was, you’ll be lined up for playoff tickets. Once we make the playoffs, you’re gonna you’re gonna lose your you’re gonna lose your season ticket. It’s you’re gonna lose your seat. You know, there was such arrogance that still exists. I’ll leave you with this. This is my parting shot. Is that I spent 100 bucks last Tuesday, gave my day up, went down to hear Sashi Brown and Katie Griggs. I videoed most of it, so I have transcript, like, literally, the words that they spoke. So I, you know, and I haven’t watched it. I’ve been busy. I was in Nashville. We played football, you know, I got things going on, right? So I haven’t watched it, but I’m going to transcribe it to see the quotes again. It was very pablum. It was very talking points. It’s everything you’ve heard Katie say before. If you’ve ever heard Katie say anything, it was everything you’ve heard Sashi say. But here was the interesting part. Abe mccare, who was the was the MC moderator. You know, he had seven questions he had written down, and they were open and they were just anybody I could have gone up and asked his questions. You know, there was nothing specific about or anything even local, but he’s like, What is the number one complaint or fan thing that makes its way to your desk. And Sashi, I’ll take that one traffic, post game traffic. It’s post game traffic. You know, people just, you know, we work with the city. We work with Ingress, egress, and you know, it’s really, it’s really important, and when people leave the stadium that they can get home at a quick time, because that’s their last experience. Last experience. And if they have a hard time getting out of our parking lot, they might not come back to our game. Paraphrasing him, that’s pretty much what he said. And then they go to Katie, and I’m like, post game traffic’s not a problem for you, you know, like you should hope that at some point, you know, I moved downtown. I lived here in 2003 when I moved downtown, there was literally a concern for my wife and I to say, man, it’s 81 nights a year. We’re going to have a little push and pull with 40,000 people being downtown, I assure you, after living down there for 19 years, I didn’t get stuck in Oreo traffic three times in 20 years, because there was no thing. And I thought that that was an interesting First off, I don’t know why Sashi picked that or why. Maybe that’s his in his art of hearts, that really is what people complain about. They complain about getting stuck at a game that was too good at the end of the night. I don’t know, but that’s what he said. And I thought to myself, she’s new to the gig, new to the job, and she couldn’t even respond to that. It was kind of like a kick, low kick to me, sort of like host cape. Traffic is not an issue for the Orioles, but I do wonder for her, what she’s doing the next five months, and I spent 100 bucks last week to hear her speak, to try to get some vibe on that, to try to get some front face. I run into their sales people at a connects event next week that Ivan Bates is going to be speaking at. I get around town, I talk to people. I’m out. I am I live in the I’m a person of the community. I get out, and I talk to a lot of people about a lot of things, and it will be interesting. How many people come to the next four months and want to in any way engage me about the baseball team in any way, and that has to be their goal, even though they don’t want me talking about them on the radio, because I’m a bad guy. I hate them, even though I talk about them all day and want nothing but good things for them. They need us talking about them. Man, like, don’t underestimate yourself, because and your ability to talk about them at a level that only people like Craig heist, who’s no longer with us, or Peter schmuck who doesn’t do it anymore. Or you know people that really know baseball and really know this town. It’s, it’s a shame that they did take a better tack with me and people like me and people in this community to want to go out and say, who are the 100 people that hated Peter the most who still love baseball? Let’s find them, and let’s, let’s wash that away. They haven’t washed anything away. It’s very corporate. It’s very to me. And Albert Nestor isn’t that, but he’s been here a minute, and I’m wondering the next time I hear his voice on a television screen, on my video on the news in town at a charity event in December with Mr. Rubenstein, you know, grifting along at the brown advisory, trying to get big sponsors. You know, I’m wondering when I’m going to hear his Boston accent against November 5, right? Like it can’t be February 14. It just can’t be not for this franchise. If he’s going to be the leader, be the leader. Step up. Be the guy. Because, you know, Rubenstein can’t do it and doesn’t want to, and Katie Griggs doesn’t matter, and Mike Elias, it’s not his jam. So I want to see them recruit the community. But dude, that I said that to John Angelos and Peter, and I said that to every TJ Brightman and Greg Bader, and none of them got it, and I don’t have any hope, based on what I’ve seen of Katie Griggs last week that I paid to see, and David Rubenstein and the press conference and the mindset that you have, that they have to which is what we need to win. All right, well, between now and then, what are you doing? That’s my challenge, to make your baseball team better. Her. I mean that, and that makes us talk about them. Well, I’m exactly look, if it’s just another get better around the margins offseason, then, yeah, it’s gonna be look. I can compliment them. They got Andrew, Andrew Kittredge back for cash on Tuesday. They doubt him. They got a prospect for renting him

Luke Jones  45:20

at 63 innings in their bullpen that they fixed. That’s right, that’s a good move. Yeah, I can’t sell the offseason on that. That’s not making them a contender. Like, that’s a piece in their bullpen, good for them. Like, well done

Nestor Aparicio  45:33

every week for the next eight weeks, if they add a little piece about it. That’s but that needs,

Luke Jones  45:37

that needs to be, like, I don’t know, like 12th or 13th on the list of good things they do this offseason. I’ll break it

Nestor Aparicio  45:45

at this because I got to run in our window. Is what it is. Luke Jones is here. He’s Baltimore. Luke can be doing football week. We’re doing Minnesota. We’re doing the Orioles. He did the press conference. All of it’s up. I’ll have more thoughts. Katie Griggs still isn’t coming on. I’m still not getting a press pass, and I am. I’m good with all that. I would just say this for them to break it off. You and I get together, personally, privately, as friends, as co workers, and we say, do we need to do an Oriole piece today? Let me know the next time we need to do an Oriole piece. And let me know how many of those we need to do between now and, let’s say Super Bowl Sunday, which is the beginning of spring training. So the over, under better be 10, not three. That’s all I’m going to say. He’s Luke. I’m Nestor. We are W, N, S, D, game, 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stopped talking. Baltimore. Positive. It’s still football season here, but don’t tell the Orioles.