Eric DeCosta and the Baltimore Ravens manage this time of the year as well as any team in the league so there are very few surprises. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the departure of Patrick Mekari, Brandon Stephens and Malik Harrison in the early tampering period of NFL free agency.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ free agency period, focusing on the departures of Patrick Mekari and Brandon Stephens. They highlighted the Ravens’ strategy of re-signing key players, such as Ronnie Stanley, to secure their offensive line. Mekari signed a $12 million per year deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars, while Stephens received a $36 million contract from the New York Jets. Jones noted the higher salary cap post-COVID and the importance of left tackles in the NFL. They also touched on the Ravens’ draft strategy and the potential impact of these departures on the team’s future.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens free agency, Ronnie Stanley, Patrick Mekari, Brandon Stevens, salary cap, left tackle, NFL tampering, Maryland lottery, Towson Tigers, compensatory picks, offensive line, player reps, Super Bowl contender, NFL contracts, NFL market.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W n s t am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively, getting through this tampering period, free agent period. If there is any breaking news on the NFL side or the Orioles side, maybe they’ll sign a picture. Who knows? You’ll get it first on the wnst tech service. That is all brought to you by our friends at cole roofing and Gordian energy. All you need to do is just text right now. Just Text Join or wnst to 410-821-9678, you’re on the tech service. You get it first, as we did several times on Monday. Luke Jones is now here to discuss that we’re going to be getting together on Friday at CVP Towson. Yes, despite the fact that the Towson Tigers were upset by the upstart blue hens of Delaware, it’s almost like it’s amazing they don’t have a flat go on that team at this point. But nonetheless, a disappointing fall there. But we will be over at the CVP, and I will have scratch offs in the Maryland lottery. I’ll have these magic eight ball scratch offs to give away Luke their purple. You know, a lot of Bruce purple feelings every year, this time of year when Eric Costa gets up, doesn’t have Justin Tucker rumors around, but has to get up in Indianapolis and say, well, we’re not gonna be big players in free agency. This is always, usually your beat right to to get the departures more than the additions.
Luke Jones 01:27
Yeah, I think. And we talked about this coming out of the weekend, when you get the Ronnie Stanley deal done, which was absolutely their top order of business this offseason. That’s not to say they’re not going to make some other moves of note at some point here, maybe in the next couple days. But this has been a very ravens like start to free agency, where you might have one big ticket item, which is typically a re signing. We talked about it how last year it was namdi, Mata Bucha, so they got Stanley done, and then you kind of sit back and you see what happens. And I think this year more so than other years. This wasn’t a great ravens class of free agents. I mean, make no mistake, Patrick McCary has been a good soldier for the Ravens. He’s been versatile. He’s been very valuable for them at times. He was a starting left guard this year for them. But we’re not talking about someone that you would ever anticipate giving $12 million per year on the open market. Yet the Jacksonville Jaguars are doing that, and God bless McCary, he’s earned a nice payday. He had a nice season as a full time starter. Uh, really for the first time in his career, but and
Nestor Aparicio 02:39
he’ll be a nice average guard for them, if he’s going to play every snap. And I don’t know at this point if you know, like, I don’t, that’s a lot of money, yeah, that’s a lot of money to say, we can’t go get a guy in the draft, right? That could Yeah,
Luke Jones 02:54
well, or you just say, or we go back to what our plan was before he got hurt in week three, Andrew Voorhees at left guard. But I think they’re going to add someone of note in the draft at the guard position. You know, not necessarily in the first round, per se, but in the first three rounds. Let’s say, I would say that’s a pretty decent better at least the first four rounds. But Well, if it gives you
Nestor Aparicio 03:17
any idea whether the Ravens still have good football players, they always get these sandwich picks. They always get rid of guys. They make mistakes on Marcus Williams, but they’re not going to let Kyle Hamilton get out of here. They’re not going to let Tyler Linda, you know, they didn’t let Lamar Jackson get out despite all the mess and the fact that he probably could have gone, quite frankly, like that could have happened. I you know, they, they usually do well this time of year, you know, when they’re not dealing with their kicker being a, you know, potential predator, that’s all they
Luke Jones 03:47
do well this time of year in terms of valuing players. I mean, let’s face it, we can get into McCary, we can get into Malik Harrison, we can get into Brandon Stevens and all of those examples. I mean, Brandon Stevens, how about the fact that he got the money he’s getting from the New York Jets after what was not a very good season. I mean, I think the writing was on the wall that the ravens, even if it was at a much, much, much cheaper rate, would have been lukewarm at best about keeping brands. He
Nestor Aparicio 04:14
was a great owner, and they didn’t think he was a safety and you never really figured out what he was, right? Yeah. Well, I mean, look, he
Luke Jones 04:20
in 2023 when Humphrey was hurt and missed, what large portions of I think it was 10 games. You know, it was, I think eight games he missed entirely, and then a couple others. He exited fairly early. Brandon Stevens was an unsung hero, but gave up too many big plays last year. I think his confidence suffered. The safety play did not help him out at all. But, I mean, well,
Nestor Aparicio 04:42
he always got picked on too, once you’re not going,
Luke Jones 04:44
Oh yeah, absolutely, that’s that Yeah. And especially, even as Nate Wiggins, his confidence grew as the year went on as a rookie. But three years, $36 million I think the common theme, and this was the common thread throughout the league we talked about over. The weekend, how it seemed like there was a higher number of re signings than usual. And then I said, this might have the opposite effect on what had already been perceived to be a lukewarm free agent market, but those that are actually hitting the market might do very well for themselves now, and that’s exactly how it played out. So how many times forget about the Ravens specific free agents. But as the news was coming out and agreements were coming out, how many of those Did you say, Wow, that’s a lot of money for that guy. Or in some cases, who is that guy? And you saw some of the money that some very run of the mill pedestrian players that you know, compared to their peers of God on the open market. I mean, it was just very surprising in that way. So from that standpoint, no, I’m not surprised that the Ravens weren’t extremely active on the first day of the tampering period just because of what the what the numbers were. Now, I think it’s important to remember, and this is kind of just a big picture point, the salary caps gone up quite a bit over the last three, four or five years. You know, as we’ve gotten on the other side of COVID, it’s it started to shoot back up. So I think that’s important to remember that a $2 million player now is not the same as it was five five years ago, let alone talking about Patrick McCarry, for example, I would have, if you would have asked me, before free agency started, I would have had him peg for maybe an eight, $8 million guard. You know that? I think if you look, you know, like John Simpson, you look at what he got last year from the Jets, when he left the ravens and he got 12 now, was he overpaid, you know, relative to what he probably is as a player? I mean, maybe, but the cap has also gone up. So I think it’s important to keep in mind those percentages. That’s why, you know, we’ve, we’ve, we’ve focused on quarterbacks as it pertains to the cap. But really, if this is all, if the market’s working the way it should, salary should be going up across the board, because the caps going up. So that’s something to keep in mind. But that said again, when you’re talking about Patrick McCarry, 12 plus million dollars. Brandon Stevens 12 plus or $12 million per year. Uh, Malik Harrison, who I actually thought the Ravens would bring back, you know, felt like that was the kind of player that they would bring back, given his versatility, but, you know, the Steelers give them two, two years, ten million agreement in principle anyway. So, you know, it just speaks to the kind of start to free agency that we typically see. But my other big takeaway, and I noted this from the time that it came out that the Titans were signing the Steelers left tackle Dan Moore, who you know was solid player, but if you ask people in Pittsburgh, you ask Steelers fans, at times he was viewed as a liability. He gets four years, $82 million I think you see that. You see what the Chiefs ended up giving Jalen Moore from the 40 Niners, who filled in nicely this past year, but has never really been a full time starter. He gets two years, $30 million I saw those two deals, and the first thing I thought was, I think the ravens and Ronnie Stanley made a nice compromise to stay together. I think for as much as the Ravens may have wanted to avoid, 20 million per year. Stanley was going to get way more than that on the open market. And I think it reflects Ronnie. Stanley wanted to stay with the Ravens. I think he wanted to get to 20. And we kind of talked about that being the, you know, kind of the price point that made sense to to kind of save some face from his perspective as well. But you’re telling me, if Dan Moore got 20 point 5 million per year. Understanding He’s four years younger, I understand that, but Ronnie Stanley would have definitely, he would have gotten 2223 if not approaching 25 million per year.
Nestor Aparicio 08:50
What were his options, and where we where was he going to go and get that money? You know Stanley? I mean, I mean Brandon Stevens went to the Jets. He’s going to be four and 13. You know what? I mean? Like, sure, sure, going to a place where he can’t win. And that’s part of Ronnie Stanley’s tired of like losing in January. Quite frankly, he’d like to win in January. Yeah.
Luke Jones 09:07
Well, I mean, he he wants to win in January. And, okay, the Ravens haven’t broken through, but they’re there, and they have a chance every year in January, which they still might be his best chance. Sure, yeah, exactly. And that’s the thing. I mean, would the chiefs of offered Stanley more money than they gave Jalen Moore, I’m sure. But as I pointed out the other day, the chiefs still tied against the cap, right? I mean, it’s not, you know, that’s easier said than done with some of these deals, but well, it
Nestor Aparicio 09:31
speaks some way. The left tackle, you and I talked at length during the Ronnie Stanley thing about quarterback, quarterback, left tackle, wide receiver, Rush edge in some sort of order those. And you know what, dude, I’ll be really honest with you, that’s what Marvin Lewis told me, 1996 97 when he’s trying to teach me football, where the money was going to go. And it hasn’t changed in 30 years. It hasn’t changed. I mean, left tackle John Ogden, first pick of the franchise. Right? So how important is it? $20 million important and more to other teams who don’t have it?
Luke Jones 10:06
Yeah, exactly. I mean, it’s one of those positions, and I’ve talked to we’ve talked a lot about positional value in recent years. I mean, you and I talked and had some healthy debate about roquan Smith, you know, and what the Ravens ultimately gave him and what that position, how it’s been valued or not valued as highly in recent years. I feel like it’s kind of swinging back the other direction, that it’s being valued again. But we’ve talked a lot about positional value. If it’s one of those Premier, premium positions, yeah, you’re going, if you want to have any one of quality, you’re probably going to have to over, I don’t want to even say overpay, because the market dictates that it’s not an overpay, but you’re probably going to have to step outside your comfort zone a little bit more. Left tackle is not a spot where you’re going to go dumpster diving for a bargain, right? Well, I
Nestor Aparicio 10:55
would also say that part of it is you play the game of chess. It protects your king, right? So like, no matter who your king is, even if you’re New England and your king stinks, or your Pittsburgh and you don’t know who your king is, or, like, whatever it is, the left tackle position is still, like, even if your quarterback stinks, you better make sure your left tackle is good. And if your quarterback’s Patrick mahomes and your left tackle stinks, Patrick mahomes can’t win.
Luke Jones 11:20
Well, you look at the chiefs, okay, they made the Super Bowl in 19. They won. They made it in 20. They lost. Go back and look at 20. Had issues and injuries on their offensive line, specifically the left tackle, but multiple spots. The other Super Bowl they’ve lost was this past February. They had issues. Well, they didn’t get to that didn’t let the Bengals in well, but that was also a factor of that, right? But those two years that where they lost the Super Bowl, they got to a Super Bowl, but then you saw not having a left tackle that you really trust, it blew up in their face on the biggest stage. Now, again, other teams would say, well, that’s kind of a first world problem. You’re talking about if, well, if
Nestor Aparicio 11:59
your offense gets blown up in Mississippi too, whether you’re in a run or a pass, because your left tackle can’t hold water and he’s losing 80% of his snaps, you’re gonna get your ass kicked. I mean, eventually your quarter, something bad’s gonna happen your quarterback, or something bad’s gonna happen to your offense. It’s blowing the ball up, nothing else. No question, no
Luke Jones 12:17
question. So that’s why, okay, people might sit here and I, I didn’t see much disenchantment about the Ronnie Stanley contract or resigning, or any of that, because I think everyone recognizes it, but he but even if we’re to make the argument to say, I’m not sure Ronnie Stanley is a top five or a top seven, you know, and you can kind of massage the numbers and look at it any way you want to kind of see where he ranks, even if you say He’s not, you say maybe he’s only the 10th best left tackle in the league now, well, you still have the 10th best tackle in the league, or you still have the 12th best left tackle in the league, and that’s good enough to to win. And what’s the alternative, right? And that’s where we go back to, if the Ravens had not gotten this done, what are they looking at, overpaying Dan Moore or Jalen Moore, or going into the draft and saying, All right, well, we hope that guy’s there at 27 or we hope that guy’s there in the second round, and we hope Roger Rosengarten can play left tackle, and we’re going to try to find a right none of those scenarios were remotely optimal, or even something where You would say is something you feel very comfortable about if you’re a Super Bowl contender in the Ravens last
Nestor Aparicio 13:25
year, they went away from Zeitler and Moses like quickly and with, you know, and with great conviction in the draft, with Rose and garden and like all of that, and you and I spent, let’s say, May, June, July, August, parts of September, Talking about their offensive line. And then it became Question number one, the minute the season ended, was Ronnie Stanley? Ronnie Stanley? Yes, the thing they addressed first, it was the thing that the Costa didn’t he knows, speaking on Justin Tucker, and don’t know much about Mark Andrews, but they knew they wanted to sign Ronnie Stanley two weeks ago, right? So, you know, it’s very clear where their order of business was. They still play football there. They understand what a left tackle, the value is, versus guards, versus right tackles, and even versus centers that and I keep saying to you, every time they’ve had a center problem, they’ve had an offensive problem. And every time Matt Burke went away and Marshall yonder went away and John Ogden went away when they’ve lost really good players, you know. I mean, they’re still trying to replace Ed Reed to some degree, but I mean, on the offensive line, it’s, you know, it’s been five years from Australian, he’s, you know, halfway into they’ve got one foot in the Hall of Fame, and they still haven’t seen that level of play,
Luke Jones 14:37
yeah. Well, and let’s be clear, when we’re talking about replacing Hall of Famers, that’s a different animal entirely. Animal entirely. But I think you just said it talking about last year. I think that’s a reason why I was at a point where if the Ronnie Stanley ask got crazy, like, for example, he had been asking the Ravens for 25 for a year. That. Where I’d say, That’s too much risk. I think 20 was, I think that was a fair number in terms of still making him look whole compared to what he had been making over the previous contract, prior to last year with the pay cut. And I think if you’re the ravens, you say, look, even if on the open market, you’re a $25 million tackle per you know? And again, I’m talking AAV when I say that, for anyone listening. But you also missed a ton of time over the last four years, right? And and you’re a year older, and there’s still a question about availability. And just because you played every game this past year doesn’t mean that we can completely buy in that you’re never going to have issues with injuries again. So that’s where I said. I think both sides gave some ground here, and ultimately, when you get something done, unless it’s a case like what happened with Cleveland and Miles Garrett, which is just bizarre and speaks to why the Browns are the browns and will continue to be the browns. But I think when you have a case where both sides want to get something done, both sides have pride, but not to the point where it’s going to be their downfall in a negotiation, they say, Yeah, Ronnie, we’ll come up from and I don’t, I’m just throwing this out as an example. We’ll come out from eight, we’ll come up from 18, or we’ll come up from what our guarantee was over the first two years previously, and we’ll come up to this number. And then on the flip side, Ronnie Stanley says, Yeah, you know, I, I, I’m almost positive I could have gotten 23 or 24 per year from someone like New England who has cap space to use, but I’m not going to have a chance to win there. And I’m comfortable here, and I like it here, and I was a player rep.
Nestor Aparicio 16:40
Part of him has to take that in, sure well, and the player rep part of him also, I think sometimes, especially, look, I’ve been around this forever, and I talk about it more than anybody, and I think I understand it better than anybody running a business. But in baseball, the tired ass, 35 year old players in the old days were the dogs that dug in, even though they had nothing to gain to give it to the kids or whatever. At least theoretically that. That’s the way Marvin Miller kind of set up the baseball thing. Football’s been just bending over and bending over and bending over. As long as there’s been a franchise here, they’re going to get their 18th game. You know, I’m writing my dear Roger Goodell note here. I mean, they’re the league never loses. The the owners always win. It’s one of those things for players like Ronnie Stanley, who’ve been in the in the in the training room as much as anything, and haven’t he might have never gotten any of this money. I mean, you and I thought he might not never back, walk back on the field two years ago, right? So like, now he’s good for another upwards of $100 million maybe he’s got to play that third year. I mean, I think this is more funny money, more like a 30 or $40 million it’ll be non gear, it’ll be a team option. This is basically a two year deal with knee up in week two. I don’t think the cost. It’s a Bucha. You’re gonna be on the hook for $24 million next year, right? So I would just or as little of it as they can get away with contractually. I would just say this for the player, Rhett part, for all the tough guy part in baseball, that and that softened up a little bit, and it’s going to soften even more, as you and I did an hour on pitching and money, and you’re just like, hey, go get another $12 million reliever. And I’m like, Well, you know, 12 million, you know, baseball making that money’s different. In football, we don’t even have those conversations, but what we do have is about players who was a player rep, instead of getting every last nickel out of it and going and playing for some losers, saying, Yeah, I’ve been a rep, and I fought the fight, but this is my last contract, and I’m 31 and I’ve been in the training room, and I just want to be happy and win. I’m not, I’m not here to fight the fight of gene up Shaw’s, you know, memory, you know what I mean, like, I just think when the rubber meets the road, these football players would all scab up. They’d all go suit up for 2 million a week. They would, they? Would I? Their union is a jellyfish, and because of that, to some degree, there’s a lot of money here. When it comes time to say, I want to make me happy instead of I’m going to negotiate every last nickel. I remember standing in locker in an all star game with Tom Glavin that Messina didn’t make the all star game, and he was up in in my thing, take your buddy Messina back. I thought he was a union. I mean, I’ve had these kind of conversations with players, player reps, the late great Jim pool here on the baseball side during baseball war time in the 1990s when you mentioned player rep to me, I thought about that for a couple days. Player rep, if this is a real thing, would have gone and gotten as much money as he because he would have to football. Would work that way. Man,
Luke Jones 19:44
well, it doesn’t. And ultimately, I mean, when, when you have an agent, or even if you’re part of the a union, yeah, there’s, there are elements to that. Look, Ronnie Stanley wasn’t going to take 12 million a year from the Ravens. I mean, he’s still got 20 million per year. Like, you know, let’s, let’s not act like it. It’s. Don’t change either. But when you get to a certain price point, and to your point, when you’ve made a lot of money, and when you go through an injury like he had, I think there’s a certain amount of trust that you build up with the team that you’re working with, you know, the training staff, the doctors, all of that. In terms of when you go through something like that, there is a little more of a sense of some loyalty and some thought of I’m comfortable here. They know my my injury history. They know what makes me tick. They know what’s going to help me, you know what?
Nestor Aparicio 20:29
And he’s not a guy that’s gonna go slap around for 6 million bucks and get back up in Jacksonville four years now. He’s gonna hang it up as a raven. I mean, you know me, unless something happens and he has a chance to go win a Super Bowl and can’t hear somehow, some way, or they draft their left tackle with 27 which they might do. Yes, you could, you know. So there’s some things that would force him into other places, but, but, I mean, I this is a happy story for all of them, and in a lot of ways, but I did want to bring up the union part of it, because that doesn’t exist as much. And I think it doesn’t exist as much as when Paul monitor was dug in in the 1990s and other players, when they were only making 3 million a year and had 18 million in the bank. There’s a whole different thing about having 100 million in the bank too, and just saying, I want to be a happy individual, like just yeah for any of these guys, I think there’s a different mindset amongst this era of player than that era, you know, all the guys that laid down and got hurt 30 years ago to Emmit Smith that had to hang out to get their money from Jerry Jones 30 years ago and all that stuff that went on. You know, these guys are making, by the way, I want to throw one thing at you, because we’re long form here. We don’t have a game this week. If Leonard Raskin was here, by the way, he just got back from Iceland. He saw the Northern Lights. We did a big segment on that. If Leonard Raskin was here, he’d say that if Ronnie Stanley were interested in money, he would have signed it a state that was friendly to money, which would mean not the Rams, not the 40 Niners, not the ravens, but the Jaguars. So when you sign with the Jaguars, you get a lot more money just because you’re in Florida and there’s there’s that too. So if you really want more money, you know what I mean, ask Dion. He’ll always say, tell the guys sign a Florida team make more money. You know what I mean? Like, I hear all of that, but that’s a big consideration. And if we ever talk hockey and money and exchange rate and all of that, I mean the money part of this in the NBA and all these guys making 20, $30 million a year, the tax part of it’s enormous, as far as where their agents would send them or not send them.
Luke Jones 22:29
Yeah, and hey, Patrick McCarry goes to the Jaguar, so maybe that was a factor for him, in addition to getting 12 plus million dollars per year. But look, I mean, I think it’s tough for us. You know, our US, common, common people who not, aren’t millionaires and all of that, to kind of relate to this, but at the same time, you kind of think about it through the lens of, okay, let’s say you’re comfortable with your job, you’re comfortable with your compensation, you’re comfortable with where you live, your family likes it, and then you get a job offer that is for more money, but you’ve got to pick up and move, and that means your kids going to a different school, and that means leaving your family, potentially or being further away from your family, and all those different things. So there are as much as we joke, and US sports media type guys are as guilty of this as anyone, of making fun of this as much as we joke when we hear players say that it’s not all about the money, it’s not all about the money. Now that being said, when they say it’s not about the money, and they try to make it a sound like it’s not about it at all, well, that’s a bold faced lie. But by the way, the Super
Nestor Aparicio 23:35
Bowl share was $171,000 this year. So if you win the Super Bowl, there’s your pick. You know, if you sign with the right team, that’s 171,000 you wouldn’t get with patriots, sure, sure.
Luke Jones 23:47
But for someone who’s made the money that Ronnie Stanley has made, I mean, that’s, you know, that’s a nice ad fair, yeah, it’s a nice little bonus, but it’s certainly not life changing money that you know that it’s a fraction of what you’ve already made. So look at, we know what the start of free agency is every single year, everything that played out Monday, everything that plays out leading up to the start of the new league year, when everything becomes official and that, and that’ll be my little disclaimer. Keep in mind all these deals that are agreed upon. We will see a couple of them change, right? We see it every year where some, you know, someone gets old physical, yeah, right, pending, well, that, that’s part of it. But also sometimes another team comes in and or a player kind of has second thoughts. We’ve seen guys agree to terms with another team, and then they suddenly resign with their old team. We were
Nestor Aparicio 24:35
talking about the baseball team and the pitchers the other day, and what could have been with Andrew Kittredge and, you know, like Jeff Hoffman.
Luke Jones 24:41
The Orioles, you know, reportedly had a three year, $40 million deal with Jeff Hoffman, who was an all star reliever last year for the Phillies, had some concerns about his shoulder. The Braves also had some concerns about his shoulder. He winds up in Toronto. You know, some of that stuff happens. Some you like to see it keep, kept under wraps, which in that. Case. Credit to those teams for doing that. So he’s still got a nice payday from someone else, but, but again, you look at the numbers. Patrick McCary, three years 39 Brandon Stevens, three years 36 Malik Harrison, two years 10. Chris board goes to the Giants, two years six. And Josh Jones, who thought might end up actually playing a decent role for the Ravens this past year as a versatile lineman, but barely played because their O line stayed as healthy as they did. He winds up going to the Seahawks on a one year deal, think, worth up to close to five, you know, and with incentives. So of those names, yeah, in a perfect world, you would have kept Patrick McCary, but not at 12 plus million dollars per year. Malik Harrison would have been nice to keep him just to have a little more depth at linebacker, but he ends up getting a decent deal from the Steelers. But in the case of Stevens, in the case of Josh Jones, even Chris board, I mean, these aren’t guys that are making or breaking your Super Bowl hopes in 2025 so we’ll see how the market continues to develop. There’s still good players out there, and the way the market always goes, they’ll end up being some good players that are still there on Thursday or Friday or next week or two weeks from now, and that tends to be when the Ravens find the most value. But in the meantime, you know, they they are already on their way to securing some compensatory picks for next year, and we also know that that’s a big part of what the Ravens do, as far as their reliance on the draft and just accumulating as many lottery tickets as you can.
Nestor Aparicio 26:32
Alright. Luke Jones, be monitoring all things tampering, non tampering. We’re we can’t tamper with the Towson Tiger season, but we will be at CVP Towson on Friday during the Maryland crab cake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery. I will have the magic eight ball scratch offs. They’ve been lucky ones if they’re purple, and they’re kind of fun to touch and and scan. I did. I did scan a loser the other day. I kind of felt bad about that, but there are no losers. There’s only second chances. There’s a non winning ticket, as we like to say around here. It’s also Gambling Awareness month at John Martin on it’s also American Awareness Month of the Constitution, things like that. I’ll be breaking out my passport and going to Canada with great Luke Jones. We’re going to cross the border in Niagara Falls, come back over the Peace Bridge, trying to spread some peace and love to Canada. I hope Eddie Lee is going to be there, if you like Canadian music. Rick Emmett of triumph, join me this week in a spirited discussion about politics in the geopolitical tariffs and whatnot. But we are going up to Canada two weeks from now. I skipped Florida this week. It was windy, it was terrible. Luke made the greatest decision ever, to stay home and monitor all things Patrick McCary and Brandon Stevens on behalf of the Ravens flock. We’re having a great week around here. March Madness is around the corner. We’ll see at CVP at Towson this week, we’re going to be pizza John’s in Essex. Next week, Luke is threatening to bring an old fashioned, old school Essex baseball Preview. I’m going to invite some of my Dundalk hoodlums across the back River Bridge to Essex down to 702, back river neck road, and I’m gonna teach him what a good cheese steak is. There is a rumor, Luke, that Dave shining. Have you ever You know Dave shining? By any chance? Yeah. I
Luke Jones 28:11
mean, I don’t know him incredibly well, because his more extensive time on the Orioles beat came before me, so, but I’ve met Dave before. Yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 28:20
you do know Dave is a sage on all things baseball and a hell of a piano player, and he is going to regale us. He’s back on the baseball beat. He was writing, you know, incendiary baseball stories this last couple weeks in the Washington Post. So we’re going to bring him on to talk to him about analytics and the game, and the state of the game and opening day, which begins in Canada. What do you want? Let’s play ball. Okay, Blue Jay, you’re gonna learn this song to it. I tried to get Rick Emmet to sing it with me the other day. He kind of flatly refused, but I don’t think it was in his key. And besides that, he’s just doing nice music these days, so you can hear Rick Emmett. I’m chasing Getty Lee. We had John Palumbo. It’s a rock and roll month around here, it’s March. We’re getting up on baseball season. We have March Madness next week as well, and lots of crab cake tours out for everyone. I am Nestor. He is Luke. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, we never stopped talking. Baltimore. Positive you.
