Now entering a third month as one of the worst position players in Major League Baseball, Luke Jones and Nestor wonder when – or if – the phenom first overall pick and the former Adley Rutschman will re-emerge in time to lead the Baltimore Orioles into October. Meanwhile, the Birds are off to Fenway Park as the bats remain silent.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
play, talking, game, months, team, oysters, good, injuries, orioles, bullpen, runs, luke, henderson, hitting, performing, sunday, october, week, leader, mullins
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, Towson, Baltimore. Hey, at 1570 Baltimore, positive, we are into another week. The Ravens remain zero and one. They’ll have a chance to fix that. I saw the Raiders play last week, so I have a feeling things could go well this week, but the baseball team, they were the sure thing back in April and May and June, and then things happened, and then they start playing week teams, Labor Day time and little home stand. Luke Jones has been down there. He has been in Owings Mills when they allow him, and he’ll be doing double duty all week long as the birds head off to Basten and they’re not hitting the ball, dude, you know? I mean, I’m I’ve had more oysters than they’ve had hits this week. That’s it, that’s for sure.
Luke Jones 00:51
No question about it. I mean, we talked about this with the last game of the White Sox series that ended in disappointing fashion, and they scored two runs on Friday night, which was good enough for a win, because Dean Kramer came back unexpectedly, right? I mean, I think we all assumed he was at least going to miss a start, if not going on the IO and he pitches well on Friday night,
Nestor Aparicio 01:12
dude, I put the game on, and he’s standing there, and I’m like, how did he do that? I saw his arm. Like, what was that? Was amazing that he picked Sure,
Luke Jones 01:19
sure, sure. And your canoe with some great bullpen works. Or Anthony Dominguez, good bullpen work, and they win Friday night, and you say, okay, hey, you win a two nothing game. You do have to do that sometimes. I mean, as much as we’ve talked about the offense needing to pick it up, you’re gonna have to win some games like that at least once in a while. So they did that. And then Saturday we Zach efwin, not as good as he’s been, but wasn’t horrendous, and they score one run. Now they end up, you know, the rays end up winning going away, because the bullpen didn’t pitch as well Saturday, and then Sunday, you have a chance. Your ace is on the hill. You know, we’ve talked about Corbin burns. Was, was it dominant? Best version of Corbin burns that we’ve seen on Sunday in terms of a lot of strikeouts and all that, no, but he gave up a two run homer, and that was it. And they lose two nothing because they did nothing offensively. So you score three runs over the course of a series, you’re lucky you didn’t get swept. So let’s call it what it was. It was a lost weekend for the Orioles and a homestand that began with knowing you were going to play the White Sox and the rays who have fallen out of the race, right? I mean, they’re, they’ve hovered right around 500 for it feels like most of the season at this point in time. They traded away guys at the deadline, including Zach Eflin and, well, a fun weekend for
Nestor Aparicio 02:34
them to play spoiler, though. Right? Really,
Luke Jones 02:38
sure? Yeah. I mean, I don’t think the Tampa Bay Rays care about such things. I mean, being the kind of organization that they are, analytics and plant roster turn and all that, but yeah, sure, they like doing that, especially after the Orioles edged them out for the division last September. But you got to swing the bats. And over the course of this home stand, basically the Orioles had three guys swing the bat, Cedric mull or Cedric Mullins, Gunner, Henderson and Austin Slater. No one else really did much of anything. So, you know, disappointing three and three homestand against the White Sox and the rays. If, if you and I were talking to early on Labor Day last week, we would have said that that’s really disappointing. But you know what? It’s much of the same. This has been a 500 team since late June and, well, they played like a 500 team over the course of the homestand, and now they go to Boston a half game behind the New York Yankees in the Al East.
Nestor Aparicio 03:32
I think when I evaluate the team and correct me, if I’m wrong in your in your mind, it’s almost like they had like three teams, right? Like they had the team that was really good in April and May, that was coming on, that was hopeful about means and Bradish and like all of those guys that are, that are dead to this team, they’re gone. They’re, you know, they’re, they’re just gone. And then there was the trading deadline period, where you’re like, alright, we got some guys we want to switch in, some guys who want to switch out. It felt very wholesale, right? I mean, it made a lot of changes for first place team, right? They really did. And you say Austin Slater to me, and you say Zach efland To me, and you say Sir Anthony Dominguez to me, and you say Gregory Soto to me, and you say Eloy Jimena. I mean, these are all guys that have pitched, hit, added bats, had strikeouts at home run, like all of the above. But it’s not the same team anymore. And then the injuries hit. Right then you take injuries into account, the the late injuries, westburg, Mateo you read, just go through the list of all the injuries. It’s just such a different team, and it’s got a different energy about it. Um, you know, I don’t know that the fans have shown up, and I keep talking about that, and I’m not Mike Loxley, by the way, we’ll talk about that later too, because of the price of all this. You can’t, I could go to Springsteen and the Terps and the Orioles. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t do all of that. I can only do one thing. So picking all of this stuff, but the base. Baseball team, and the football team starts, and they play a game on noon on Sunday, on Roku, and I can’t even watch and I’m like, There’s eight other football games I can watch. It’s kickoff weekend, so I there’s just a little part of the baseball thing where it’s gotten a little more quiet around town for Orange flags, and we’re going to win the World Series and all that. But the injury part of this and the infusion of guys that I don’t even know, Austin Slater, Eloy, they weren’t the guys I fell in love with. I fell in love with Mullins and Hayes and the guys that are gone. But this is just a different team, and it feels like this isn’t the team they went to spring training with. And I’m not saying that that’s the way it has to be in this this team might win the World Series six weeks from now, because it could, and I will still, I’ll die on that hill that, you know they’re not hitting this week. They’re capable of hitting. We know that. I mean, it’s, this isn’t a soft hitting team. This is a team that can score 10 runs any night. I just, I fear that there’s a continuity issue here. You know, I’m not around the team, uh, you know, they don’t give me a press pass. But to be around there and to feel different humans come in and to see that this doesn’t feel like the same energy from four months ago. In regard to who the players are, how they interact, half the guys are gone, either through injury or through, you’re not good enough anymore. We don’t want you to play or we want to deal you off. It’s just a different team. And when I put it on and I see it and I feel it, it feels very different than it did in July, the energy around it feels different for me. I mean, even the squirters and Cal Ripken and like all of that excitement that that dugout had in April and May and June and all the last year, it feels like they’re, they’re Barry Manilow trying to get the feeling back again. And that’s going to start with hitting the ball. Because I don’t think they’re ever going to pitch Well, consistent.
Luke Jones 06:54
I mean, well, then it’s not going to be an October run then, I mean, you got, you’re gonna have to pitch well, you’re gonna have to pitch to well, to some degree. And in all honesty, if you look back over the last three to four weeks, I think the pitching has been a little bit better than you think in that regard, right, in terms of what the actual performance has been compared to perception. Now, that said, there’s still the questions about it. Danny cool, I’m starting a rehab assignment this week. Jacob Webb’s gonna make at least one more rehab appearance for triple A Norfolk Grayson Rodriguez is throwing bullpens now, so he’s getting closer and closer to going out on a rehab assignment
Nestor Aparicio 07:28
again. All those guys are on the field with the shadows october 3, that’ll feel more like the real team, the Sure,
Luke Jones 07:32
and that’s and that’s still what we’re holding on to at this point. I mean, if you’re an Orioles fan, that’s still what you’re holding on to at this point. But I mean the offense. There’s still too much hyperbole out there. I mean, I mean, I still have people. I made a comment at the end of the game on Sunday that it was a woeful offensive series, and someone you know had three different people say it’s been a woeful couple months for the offense. It hasn’t been that bad for that long, but over the last four or five weeks, yeah, it’s really fallen off. And this this last week, and specifically this weekend series was terrible. Well, good. Maybe I’ll hit the ball next month. But a lot of what, but a lot of what you just said, Nestor, I mean, you talk about the feeling, does the feeling create the winning, or does the winning create the feeling? Right? I think it’s the winning creates the feeling much more so than the alternative. And the reality is, with what you mentioned, a lot of that can’t be helped right now. I mean, you look at their rotation, Bradish means, wells aren’t coming through that door. Obviously, you look at the offense. I mean, Jordan Westberg is starting to pick up baseball activity, right? I mean, he’s he’s been doing ground balls, things of that, like one handed activity for a while, he’s now starting to throw and play catch and start to do some things with with his right hand, the one that had the fracture. So that’s good to see. I just mentioned the guys that are beginning rehab assignments. But you know, Jorge Mateo is not coming back, and I’m not saying that he was crucial to their success. Ramona Reus is off crutches and feeling better. That sounds way better than I, you know, that I than I thought it was a week ago. You know, week ago. I was wondering if he was done, done for the season. It sounds like, you know, he’s going to have a chance to get back later this month, but the sprained ankle that had him on crutches for, I don’t know what it was, four or five days. I mean, that’s, you know, it’s not coming back in five days after that. You know, he’s gonna have to ramp it back up. So, I mean, the reality is, they had to look for reinforcements, right? I mean, we’ve been talking about the bullpen and the need to add to that since before spring training. I mean, I was talking about that back in March, so they did that. And some of it’s worked out well. Other parts of it have not worked out well, but I’m going to go back to and it’s going to sound like I’m picking on the guy. Well, then I’m picking on him. Adley rutschman needs to start playing better, or he needs to be lowered in the lineup, and maybe he needs to sit if he’s hurt, he says he’s not hurt. Brandon Hyde has said he’s not hurt, but I. Since July 1. Nestor Adley rutschman, the All Star catcher, the face of the franchise who was drafted five years ago, face of the franchise instantly, right? Two years before, three years before he made his major league debut. Since July 1, he’s batting 181 with a 276 on base percentage and a 269 slugging percentage. He has three home runs since July 1. It’s a long time ago. It was over two months ago. He’s been below replacement level for over two months now. I mean, this is, this is more than a slump. Gunner Henderson slumped in August, right? Corbin Burns had a bad August, no question about it, right? And we’ve talked about those guys needing to pick it up, and we’ve seen burns look better in his first couple September starts. And gunner Henderson’s been hitting the ball and hitting at a high level again. But I mean, Adley rutman needs to pick it up. He talked after the game on Sunday, and he just wants to keep it focused on the team. It’s like, hello, Adley. How the team goes, how you perform, is a big, big factor in
Nestor Aparicio 11:01
how the leadership that they’ve been taught, that’s the Bull Durham leadership that I’m not here to talk about the past. I’m just I’m bull, you know, like, that’s what Chad Steele and Greg Bader want them to do. And no, I
Luke Jones 11:13
disagree with that. I hear plenty of guys, whether we’re talking about ravens or Orioles, that will take accountability and say, I need to pick it up and look, let me be clear at the end of the day, it’s optics, right? Talking to the media is not the same as being accountable to your teammates. He’s putting in work. There’s all of that, right? I’m not doubting that, but sometimes your fan base wants to hear a guy when when he’s been terrible, when he’s been below replacement level, when he’s been one of the worst 10 qualified hitters in Major League Baseball over the last two plus months. It doesn’t hurt to say, I really need to pick it up for my team. I’m better than this. You know, I’m not playing when
Nestor Aparicio 11:52
Luke Jones is at the locker after a game and wants to see more leadership as then that is what it is. I mean, good for you. I mean, I’m not there to and I just said, you know, just in a general sense, they don’t allow me to come in and have observations and ask questions and whatever your observations are, gold to me. And when you’re pissed off about it, and when you don’t like the answers you’re hearing, when you don’t like the accountability you’re getting, um, from a 20 WHAT’S HE? 24 now, I mean, these are young people. He’s 25 Yeah, these are really young people. And these are young people. In his case, he’s never failed at anything. You know what? I mean, it’s like Lamar failing. Lamar has never failed. He doesn’t add a fail. That’s why pounds on the ground and acts like an 11 year old. But when he loses, um, and gets mad at people in Pennsylvania on Twitter and tells them to perform acts that aren’t cool. So like, there’s an immaturity about being immature and being 24 or 25 that’s built in. But then there’s also the oh my god, I’m the best player on the team. There’s pressure, and I’m not performing. What do I say? What do I do? And if he’s hurt, he’s not admitting it. So then there’s an honesty issue. And if he’s hurt, he wouldn’t be playing, I guess. I mean, I guess everybody else is hurt.
Luke Jones 13:04
I push back on that a little bit. I mean, there are plenty, plenty of guys over the years that played injured. So I, you know, for me, it’s not a dishonesty thing. It’s, you know, there’s a competitive part of this. There’s a not wanting to make excuses part to this. And look, I would not be shocked if we find out at the end of the end of the year that Adley rutschman was playing through something. But the point is, if he’s out there, if he’s in the lineup, if he’s hitting second in the lineup, like he’s been of late after they had dropped him in the order a few weeks back, he’s got to play. He’s got to perform. And look, Adley rutschman owes me as a reporter. Doesn’t owe me anything, but if you’re a fan and you hear his post game interview on Sunday, that’s really uninspiring. I mean, it just is. And again, at the end of the day, that doesn’t mean he’s not accountable to his teammates. It doesn’t mean that he’s not putting in work trying to turn it around. Okay, so we’re not not suggesting the guy’s jaking it, or that he doesn’t realize he’s not playing well. He knows. I mean, you saw the frustration in his eighth inning at bat when he strikes out with two guys on base. You know, as animated as we’ve seen him. But for me, it’s, it’s okay to acknowledge that you’re not, well, I
Nestor Aparicio 14:13
didn’t see it because I don’t have Roku, but I’m literally, I’m not being a dick. I don’t have roku. But go ahead,
Luke Jones 14:19
the one thing I’ll say about Roku, you don’t have to sign up for anything. You literally download the app and watch it among those things, just like the Eagles Packers game Friday night was on Peacock, where you have to subscribe or sign up, even if you get a trial with Cooper’s north, because they’re a great sponsor and they have Dumbo, there you go. But Roku is at least free. I don’t know if it’ll continue to be free like in the future, and we’ll see, but, but, you know, again, and I don’t want to belabor the post game interview, part of it, the problem is he’s not performing. And he’s not performing like this isn’t Oh, you know, he’s been middling or oh, you know, he’s hitting 250 over. The last six weeks, right? I mean, he’s been below replacement level. This is, this isn’t quite Chris Davis in 2018 it’s not anywhere like that, but it’s closer to that than being an all star catcher. That’s how bad he’s been the last two months. So, I mean, he’s got to pick it up. You can’t have one of your best players being not just not as best, but terrible. He’s been terrible at the plate since early July. So the numbers don’t lie right in the
Nestor Aparicio 15:32
book, 76 like, you know, I’m looking up and down the line up here. Mullins is at 234. It’s September. This is, this is what’s going to be on the back of the bubble gum card, right? Like this is where we
Luke Jones 15:41
are. Cedric Mullins is. But go look at his splits. Since he was terrible the first two and a half months, he’s actually been pretty good. I mean, he’s actually been one of their better players. Now he’s become much more of a platoon player. And you know, he’s not really playing much against left handed starters, so his role has changed a little bit, obviously, with cows ability to to play center field when Mullins isn’t in the lineup, but, but again, there are other guys I get that, but this guy’s a two time all star. The reason I’m I’m bringing him up is because the expectations have been so high. He’s been so good. That’s why what he’s done over the last going on two and a half months now, is alarming. It’s been that bad. So, you know, we can talk all we want about pitchers coming back and getting guys back from injuries and needing to guys to do this in October. I mean, it starts with Adley rutschman looking like Adley rutschman Again, doesn’t it? I mean, it has to Kyle Bradish isn’t coming back. Felix Batista’s not coming back despite the fact that he’s throwing bullpens. And people continue to wonder, even though the Orioles have been adamant and say, No, he’s not pitching in October. He’s not an option for October, but if Adley rutschman is going to be in the lineup, he’s got to perform right? Because, again, I’m I’m perplexed by how poor he’s been for this long now. I mean, I really am. So that’s when when you ask, and he was asked multiple times in the post game clubhouse by eight reporters sitting there, he was asked two or three times about his individual struggles, and he just says, for me, I’m just focused on the team. And it’s like Adley, that’s great. And that sounds awesome when you’re performing at a really high level, and you want to keep the focus on your team, because you don’t want to draw too much attention to yourself. But when you’re one of the reasons why the team has scuffled the way it has, and he absolutely is, you know, it might be a good thing to acknowledge that. Now, some fans won’t care about that, and again, I’m talking about optics. At the end of the day, what really matters for the Orioles and their success is not that Adley rouxman gives the right quote to the media. It’s for him to pick up his play.
Nestor Aparicio 17:47
Well, mix of leadership that all these years later, we should talk about Ripken a little bit. I mean, Ripken was perceived to be this leader. They stayed in different hotel. I was around the team. I’m a cow guy, but I don’t know that Cal was a little bit by the time I got there, we’re talking 9192 so he was eight, nine. He was already going to the Hall of pretty good. By the time I got there, he’d already had the 89 season. He’s already into the streak, you know, all of that. It was already 1500 games into the streak, or whatever it was at that point, um, you know, he wasn’t the leader of the team. I mean, that succ sort of, you know, usurped that when he showed I mean, leadership, it happens. It doesn’t. You don’t say you’re a leader. You’re not anointed. You’re, you know, you become that guy because you’re respected in the room. I mean, you don’t point at the leaders, the you know, the cosmos points to the leaders, right? And with him, I think there was a leadership part of him, from the minute he came patent guys on the asses. There was a hustle about him. There was an energy about him. There was something Pete Rose ish about him, something different, something sort of a little extra ball player, gamer, all that stuff. I don’t know, that energy really fed a lot to two and a half years ago, right when he came up and in May, and things changed, and they stopped losing. And I so to for you to put more pressure on him, I’m I’m down with that because we didn’t see that of young gunner Henderson who struggled when he came up, or poor little Jackson holiday who I said to resig, last week, we had him out of Cocos, that if racig was going to draw him like a cartoon, he draw him like a Little Leaguer, because that’s what he looks like. Suits don’t fit. He buys a shirt out of a box and puts it on and goes to one of seasons event. It was pretty obvious. So there’s just a lot of young here. There’s nobody that’s been up the mountain. You know McCann. Maybe you know some of these guys that have been around a little bit. You know, Corbin Burns has pitched the playoff game. Evelyn’s been a part of some October this and that. But these are imported guys to some degree. When I look at the team, if you and I were Sarasota back in in March, rutchman had to be the leader, right? Like, maybe there’s a point where. Henderson will be that guy. He’s making commercials and like all of that, but rushman’s the face of the organization, until you tell me otherwise. Like, to your point, and this is a point where, like, this thing fades out in the next couple of weeks, they’re all going to get blamed for it, right? Like, there’s going to be plenty of you didn’t want to play off game again in October. If they don’t win a playoff game again in October, they’re gonna have to pound sand on that. But this was such a promising year that’s had so many things go awry, go wrong, injuries. Football season started. You know? That was gonna happen anyways. Could take some attention off, but there’s, you know, so six more games they’re gonna play this week before the Ravens play the Raiders on Sunday at home and Boston, Detroit this weekend. You know, these are winnable games, but I don’t know that when I look at the team, when I look at the stats, when I look at the lineup, I’m uninspired by all of it lately, as we get into September, and I do think to myself, how are they in first place and or a game out, or half game, whatever they are today tomorrow, based on what the Yankees do, it’s really been kind of amazing the last two months that they’ve been so yeah, and they’re still going to be a playoff team and still going to have a chance. I just hope that they can get this Calvary together over the next three weeks, because if they had to start the playoffs this week, I would not feel good about them.
Luke Jones 21:25
No. I mean, I and I think that’s fair. I mean, so much of the optimism that remains for October is based on the projection of getting some of those guys back. And that doesn’t mean, you know all the all, and we know the usual suspects, right? I mean, we’ve been talking about them for weeks. You know, it’s in the case of someone like Danny cool, and we’ve been talking about them for months. Talking about them for months, but they’re still in the meantime, they’re still looking at the guys that are active on the roster. And again, if a month from now, or six weeks from now, it comes out that Adley rutschman was playing with an injury, I wouldn’t be shocked, but we can only go off of what he and Brandon Hyde have said, that he’s healthy. So if he’s healthy, then how is he not performing better than what we’ve seen since early July? I mean, this is not, I’m not, no, I’m not splitting hairs here over someone that had a 240 month. I mean, this has been going on since early July, right? I mean, he July was the worst month of his career. Statistically, August ended up being by ops, his third worst month of his career. You know, the second being his first month in the majors. And he’s off to a really slow start in all in September now. So again, I am I picking on him a little bit. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 22:41
he’s a two time all star. We’ve been talking about it for a month, though.
Luke Jones 22:45
I mean, exactly this is, this is not what gunner Henderson went through in August. That’s more he slumped, right? And now we’re seeing gunner has come out of it, and he’s looking like gunner Henderson again. And, you know, broke the Orioles record for home runs by a shortstop in a season. And, you know, lead off on the thing that’s
Nestor Aparicio 23:01
going on here. There’s a fatigue factor for guys that start this in February that are catchers, even when they’re 24 years old, that, you know, we saw Buck Showalter ride Matt weeders like a mule for years. And
Luke Jones 23:15
I thought as much this year like, I mean, he hasn’t caught as much this year as he had in the past. And I think people kind of looked at that one early in the year. There was a lot of hand wringing about James McCann can’t hit. Why is he playing so much? And you know, we’ve talked about this, and I was trying to stress the idea that got to keep in mind, when Adley rutschman is not catching he’s still DHing frequently. Now we’re not seeing that as much over the last six weeks because of how much he struggled. But the point was, you were trying to pace him for the second half of the season, when he presumably would catch more frequently. And, you know, I mean now, I mean that that conversation has changed from the standpoint of just how much he struggled and and just for clarity, you know, he’s actually, he’s 26 I mean, he’s gonna be 27 in February. I mean, that’s not that young. I mean, it’s just the truth, and they need him. The reason why I’m bringing him up is because he’s not important. I mean, I don’t expect Eloy Jimenez to to do that much. There’s a reason why that White Sox gave him away, because he was terrible for them earlier this year, you know, he’s, he’s been okay, you know, he hasn’t hit for much power. But, you know, I’ve expect different expectations for Eloy Jimenez or Austin Slater or, I mean, but
Nestor Aparicio 24:33
they bring washed up right handed bats because they needed them, and needing them and bringing them in and having them be productive is just different, you know,
Luke Jones 24:41
sure, and that’s and that’s where, and we’ve mentioned it in passing. And again, we’ll move off of Adley Rutgers, because it’s not just him, but it is a massive part, and you could argue is the biggest part, in terms of guys that are actually on the field, right? And Craig Kimbrell, we’ve talked about him plenty as well, right, as far as what he’s being paid and what he isn’t off. Bring in the bullpen, but there’ll be plenty of blame for Elias, for guys that Elias brought in that haven’t performed. I mean, they miss Jordan, westburg. I mean, let’s look at that split as well, specifically with their offense, which obviously struggled more so in August and has remained up and down in September. You know, had some big performances this month, but also a weekend like they just experienced, where they had scored three runs in three games. But, you know, with Jordan westburg, that’s where it they’ve struggled in terms of not having enough impact right handed bats in their lineup on a nightly basis, and they miss him. I mean, they do and and then it hurt even more when Ramona Reyes played as admirably as he did in place of westburg, essentially, and he goes down with a sprained ankle. So, you know, it’s, it’s tough. And again, the injuries are such a big part of this. You know, again, I’m not trying to make it out to be that it’s all about Adley rutschman. Let me be clear in that it’s just, you know, he spoke Sunday. He doesn’t make himself to available a ton to talk to reporters. And you know, when he talked as listening to that as Luke the Orioles fan, 25 years ago, I would, I would have been woely uninspired by that, and that’s my point. By
Nestor Aparicio 26:16
the way, I still have a few friends in the media, even though, you know, you don’t know this, because I’m never in the press box next to you. But Frank this time, I ran into some media people around town, names of people that you know and the people know, and I chatted with them about the Orio clubhouse, because I haven’t been in the Oro clubhouse in 18 years, and they like it that way. So the Richmond thing, I did ask like that seems like a good room. I said to this particular reporter, and the reporter looked at me. He’s like, Well, Richmond’s not, I mean, he literally singled out ruts. He’s like, Richmond doesn’t want to deal with the media. Richmond will talk to anybody. Richmond’s like that. You know, he’s been coached up to bull dormant, and he’s never he’s not the first guy out to talk to the media. That’s what immediate member told me, I don’t know you, you can speak to you say he doesn’t talk much, and I’m like, it’s baseball. They’re there every night, right? That’s the way it used to be. But if, if there’s they don’t talk much, and you can’t go up and say hello to them, and we’re and that’s what it is, then you know, that’s reportable too, that he doesn’t talk much because I don’t know what he does or does. I don’t hear him talk much. I don’t see a lot of I don’t see the same enthusiasm I saw two and a half years ago, from the from the same rah rah. Here. Let’s go. I’m a leader Baltimore. We’re gonna win. I’m in it with you. We’re in it with me. We’re gonna catch balls and and be boring, and we’re gonna be the bank, and we’re, you know, like, I’m gonna make commercials. I’m gonna like, I don’t know, you’re not gonna make anything if you don’t win a playoff game next month. And you got five months to pound on that. I mean, Lamar kind of went away and hid for eight months too, because nobody likes to lose at the end, and have to show up and talk about losing at the end in the playoffs. So, um, for the team, trying to sell enthusiasm the off season. Get me to buy tickets again, get the orange club, and they’re going to get an all star game, and they’re going to have season tickets and all that stuff, you know, speaking to the media, not that important. Speaking to the fans, really important. Hey, you know, and that’s what Greg Bader and Chad Steele have never understood. It’s about ego, and it’s about high school, and it’s about No, no, no, no. It’s about the fans you don’t like empty seats on your Roku game on noon when everybody was standing I’m gonna watch football, or going to stand stock, or hung over from Springsteen, or heading down to the killers, or doing all the stuff that was available to all of us all weekend. The baseball team’s got to make you want to come and I’m going to tell the whistler that I’m going to tell Mr. Rubenstein that I don’t know if you read my Eric the Costa letter, but I’m getting a little spicy around here this time. These teams supposed to be winning championships right now, and I’m going to hold them accountable
Luke Jones 28:55
to that. Sure I I’m not. I’m not going to disagree.
Nestor Aparicio 29:00
Adley rush. We should be available anytime that the media wants Adley Rutgers. I mean, small market, but
Luke Jones 29:06
I don’t want to make this he needs to play better. That’s what’s important. And he needs
Nestor Aparicio 29:11
to answer when he does and doesn’t and doesn’t, doesn’t, he’s be available before and after. Ripken was available before. Now I can promise you that Cal Ripken was available every day, every night, before, games after games. Sometimes you don’t like the answer something. Didn’t have a lot of time, but he was, you know, I just talked about whether he was a leader or not. But the leadership shows itself in a lot of ways. But ruchman has to be the leader. He has to be. He’s the C on the sweater. He’s the catcher. He’s the one, one. He changed everything here, too. I know he has the capability. I’ve seen it. I don’t think he’s a leader. I know he’s a leader. I’ve watched it,
Luke Jones 29:43
right and and again, I don’t want to make this just about a post game interview, and I’m not trying to, you know, I was kind of it’s
Nestor Aparicio 29:50
about his performance the last two months. It is, it is, yeah. And
Luke Jones 29:53
again, that leadership, leadership comes with needing to perform,
Nestor Aparicio 29:59
right? But every facet of this, when you give him $50 million right? It’s the same thing with Lamar Jackson, nobody, nobody cared about anything, about all the stupid stuff he did, the driving issues, the off the field. This that, you know, nobody cared about any of that. They just care that he plays. But when you give him $50 million you’re not, you’re expecting him not to do stupid stuff, like you really are. You’re expecting how we got all the best? No, I’m just saying because Adley rutschman is trying to get paid so they’re trying to be generational $400 million ball player. Like, literally, that’s what we think of Adley. That’s what we thought the last two and a half years. Maybe our feelings are changing about that, right? Like, I don’t know who’s going to get all the money here, but I know that, ruchman Henderson, maybe westburg, I don’t know, you know holiday, I guess at some point, Mayo, maybe. But these are the guys that I I have to see them out in front of this. I have to believe they’re a part of this. Mr. Rubenstein and Mike Elias need to make them a part of this. They need to be on the side of the side of the warehouse. And we need to have 35 40,000 people down at the ballpark more often. And part of that is recruiting everybody. That that’s where I am. When you hide from the media, you’re not, you’re not recruiting anybody. That’s all I’m saying.
Luke Jones 31:18
Fair enough. I mean, I said my piece at the beginning of our conversation, I didn’t think we coming back to this, but I mean, he’s gotta play better. That’s that’s the that’s the issue. It’s not talking to Luke Jones and seven other reporters, but if he is going to be asked a question about his struggles, which was more than fair game, you know, to just deflect and not acknowledge whatsoever that you individually aren’t performing. When I hear that, if I’m talking thinking as a fan, that’s pretty uninspiring. But that said That’s not to suggest that he’s jaking it, or that he’s not accountable to his teammates, or that he’s not putting in the work to to get out of this, to snap out of this. You saw the frustration in the eighth ending, but it is what it is like I said, he’s been a bottom 10 hitter in baseball, qualified hitter in baseball over the last two plus months, in terms of look at batting average, ops, weighted runs created, I mean, any analytical stat you want to look at, he’s been very poor offensively since early July, And it’s so unlike Adley rutschman that, yeah, we do have questions about it. So when you hear and look, I don’t expect him to to sit there for 10 minutes and break down every element of his swing that he’s working on right now. But you know when you won’t even acknowledge hey, I need to pick it up again, that it sounds uninspiring. But
Nestor Aparicio 32:41
again, a lot of these guys are guys play better failed, you know, like guys that are one ones. There are different there are different kind of guitar player. That’s all I’m going to say. Luke Jones is here. He’s Baltimore. Luke. The Orioles are in Boston. He’s monitoring it. I’m monitoring it. We’re going to be monitoring everything into October. And the ravens are playing this week as well. I need to find Luke at Baltimore. Luke, you can find both of us out of us out of Baltimore positive you can find me on Friday at the Fells Point oyster festival. I will have a handful of Gold Rush sevens doublers to give away, but I’m also gonna have the Raven scratch offs, which I have not gotten in my hot little hands yet. We’ll have this Friday. We’re gonna be there early, about 11 to three. Got Springsteen in town. Styx is in town. Uh, Lawrence gown from sticks, did a half an hour with me. You’re going to hear that this week as well. You might hear some throwback Nils Lofgren as well as some JY you might even hear Dennis DeYoung before the week’s over as well. I could not line up Jeff Amen from Pearl Jam this week, but I’m going to be partying with them on Thursday. I’m doing 26 oysters in 26 days, in 26 ways, and I’m, I’m pretty glad oysters with an egg on Sunday. Don’t sneer at me, Luke. It was better than it sounded. It was really, really delicious fried. It was fantastic at the Urban oyster. So I’ve been getting out and about. You can follow along on our social media as well as at Baltimore positive. I’ll have this stuff up later in the week, but we are 26 years into this, and I promote the oyster recovery Partnership, which is when they have the shells in the other little bag at fadelies. And it cost us in other places, those shells get turned into what becomes sort of the sand at the bottom of the Chesapeake that makes up, that makes crabs happen, and that makes the crab cakes delicious at places like Coco’s, where I was last week, the Maryland crab cake tour is in session with our friends at the Maryland lottery, in conjunction with our friends at Jiffy Lube and liberty pure solutions, keeping all of our water crystal clean. We’re going to be at fadelies On the 20th. Luke and I are going to be down there before the big game against the Tigers. A lot of games against Tigers here next couple of weeks as well. We’re going to be at the State Fair in Catonsville on the 24th in the afternoon, Angela Ulster, Brooks, Prince George’s County Executive, running for Senate. Going to join us. For those of you Larry Hogan fans, Larry Hogan has an invitation. We’re going to try to get him out, as does Westmore. We are going to be on the 26th at the bno Railroad Museum, doing the oyster recovery partnership Gala. And then we’re going to be acostas on the 27th having crab cakes and oysters, as Jimmy Buffett once sang, gimme oysters and beer for dinner every day of the year. And I’ll. Be fine. I’ll be just fine. He’s Luke. I’m Nestor. We’re wnsd, lots baseball, lots football, lots great stuff. Mark Viviano joined us. It’s gonna be a good week of radio here as we get ready for the Las Vegas Raiders. I’m still getting used to calling them the Oakland Raiders after calling them the Los Angeles Raiders, but I saw the Los Angeles chargers of San Diego playing in LA yesterday, so I know better. I.
