Sure, Tuesday was just another shutout loss in another last place season for the Baltimore Orioles but the impressive start of Kyle Bradish weighs heavily in the future of the offseason and the club’s pitching plans for next season. Luke Jones and Nestor praise his first start after Tommy John surgery and discuss the long-term significance of a full and successful return to the rotation.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed Kyle Bradish’s impressive return to the Orioles, highlighting his 10 strikeouts and no walks in six innings against the Boston Red Sox. They praised his velocity, reaching 98 mph, and noted his potential for 25 starts in 2026. Jones emphasized the need for additional starting pitchers, suggesting Trevor Rogers and Bradish as solid foundations. They also addressed the team’s offensive struggles, particularly the underperformance of young players like Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday. The conversation concluded with speculation on potential offseason moves and the importance of health and conditioning for the team’s success.
- [ ] Monitor Kyle Bradish’s health and performance in his upcoming starts.
- [ ] Evaluate the Orioles’ strength and conditioning program to address the high number of injuries.
- [ ] Explore options to add at least one more high-impact starting pitcher to the rotation this offseason.
Kyle Bradish’s Return and Team Outlook
- Nestor Aparicio welcomes listeners to the show and mentions the upcoming holiday weekend with no football games.
- Nestor discusses the recent cuts by the Ravens and the return of Kyle Bradish to the Orioles.
- Nestor praises the young bats like Dylan Beavers and Samuel Basayo and criticizes the team’s performance under Tony Mancini.
- Luke Jones joins the discussion, highlighting the importance of Bradish’s return and his impressive performance against the Boston Red Sox.
Kyle Bradish’s Performance and Future Prospects
- Luke Jones describes Bradish’s return to form, noting his velocity and effectiveness in his first start.
- Bradish recorded 10 strikeouts and did not walk a single batter, showing his dominance on the mound.
- Nestor and Luke discuss the significance of Bradish’s performance and its impact on the team’s future.
- They express optimism about Bradish’s potential to be a key contributor in 2026.
Team Rotation and Offseason Needs
- Nestor and Luke discuss the need for additional starting pitchers to complement Bradish and Trevor Rogers.
- They mention the potential for trading for or signing veteran pitchers to bolster the rotation.
- Nestor highlights the importance of having reliable starters to avoid the issues faced in the current season.
- Luke emphasizes the need for a balanced rotation with multiple reliable options.
Offensive Performance and Injury Concerns
- Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s underperforming offense and the impact of injuries on key players.
- They mention the importance of having healthy players like Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg for next season.
- Luke points out the need for better strength and conditioning to prevent injuries.
- They discuss the potential for improved offensive performance with healthier players and better conditioning.
Future of the Team and Management Changes
- Nestor and Luke speculate about potential changes in team management, including the possibility of Mike Elias stepping down.
- They discuss the importance of having a stable management team to ensure long-term success.
- Luke highlights the need for a clear plan for the offseason to address both pitching and offensive needs.
- They express hope for a more successful 2026 season with better health and performance from key players.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Kyle Bradish, Orioles, starting rotation, Tommy John surgery, pitching performance, Trevor Rogers, injury concerns, strength and conditioning, offseason plans, young bats, offensive struggles, health issues, future outlook, roster moves, baseball season.
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 getting up on the holiday weekend. This weekend, we’re going to have no football. We’ve had our cuts. If you’re on the W n s t tech service, brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy. You got those cuts on Tuesday evening as they happen, and perhaps you’ll be joining us on Wednesday at Coco’s, where I’ll have the final batch of pressure Lux and Lucky Seven doublers before we get off into crab cake Landia, the Buffalo Bills, the real crab cake tour that happens in the fall. And there’s some oysters and probably some beer in there, and some purple cheer as well. But in the meantime, there, don’t tell anyone. They’re still playing baseball. And Luke Jones was down at the ballpark on Tuesday night the Boston Red Sox in town the and, you know, we’ve talked so much about Kyle Bradish, and he was not the reason they lost or shut out. He doesn’t hit. You still a pitcher. Luke Jones joins us now. He was at the ballpark. And, you know, I guess this is the end of the busy season for a couple of 510, date right, like, to the middle of next week if anything weird happens over the weekend. But between ravens cuts and the Orioles and now Bradish is back, and everybody besides not only up, he signed for the next eight years. So like all we ringing out everything that’s going to happen with baseball. The only thing’s going to happen is they’re going to play these really meaningless games to all of us, but like again, and I said this last week to you, and I’ll continue to reiterate when they can say things like, Tony mancellino is an above 500 men. He’s five, 514, manager, or whatever it is, since he came in. And I look at the team and say, Dude, you’re the second worst team in the American League, and you haven’t been close to 500 since day one. And, you know, I can look at how bad, or we can look at how good it is in a season where Colton cows are sitting to Mendoza, you know, if he hits 341 in September. You know, it gives us something to talk about. And I guess the Bradish thing, really, other than Trevor Rogers, and other than the young bats that I’m going to praise, Bradish and you are too, but you’re pistol pissed about their bats. You hate when they get shut out that this is the story that we’re going to sit here and do the Yin and Yan, right? Yeah.
Luke Jones 02:20
Well, I mean, when you’re at the point where they are right now, which is, out of it, you’ve been sellers, you have a bullpen that’s barely recognizable, let alone talking about whether it’s good enough, right? I mean, it’s obviously not good enough. And to your point that you just mentioned, the offense has been as disappointing as it’s been, you’re looking for signs for 2026 and obviously here recently, Dylan beavers and Samuel basayo being called up, obviously, besides with the extension. But we’ve talked a heck of a lot about Kyle Bradish over the last 14 months, in terms of missing him, in terms of when he’s going to return, in terms of what does he look like when he does return, in terms of how healthy he can stay after Tommy John surgery and that, and that part of it is still TBD, right? But how he looked on Tuesday night as you’re waiting out ravens roster cuts, or as I was at the ballpark watching him, he looked like Kyle Bradish. I mean, this wasn’t John. Means where, you know, it looked okay. A few starts stuff wasn’t great, but the results were okay. This wasn’t even Felix Batista, where, you know, Batista never got his velocity back to where it had been. Now, granted, Felix has a higher velocity to attain when you’re talking about coming, most people never get to know and run right, right. You’re not talking you’re talking about 102, there. But Kyle Bradish, I mean, he came out throwing 96 I think, touched 98 a couple times. Now it wasn’t that the entire time and, and let me be clear, his regular average velocity when he was at his best was 9596 and he was fantastic. I don’t think there was anything you could possibly fathom or anticipate that would be better than what he did. And I get it, he gave up a first pitch home run in the second inning and in third inning. And he even said after the game, it’s a reminder, after you’ve been pitching in the minors for the last month ramping up, that there are no wasted pitchers and pitches in the major leagues. So yeah, I mean, he wants to have those two pitches back, but my goodness, his career high, he was one shy of that in strikeouts. He had 10 strikeouts. He didn’t walk a single batter. The fast, the sinker, slider combination was very Bradish esque and
Nestor Aparicio 04:47
striking people out indicative of
Luke Jones 04:49
good things. Yeah. I mean, that’s, that’s
Nestor Aparicio 04:53
you expect double digit strikeouts, but when you are striking guys out like that, it means. At you’re doing all the ray Miller’s changing speeds, mixing pitches, fooling people, you know, overpowering people, even when they guess, right, you can, you can beat them. Yeah.
Luke Jones 05:10
I mean, it was a stuff. And that’s not to say that. Oh, the the Orioles don’t have to do anything this this offseason. We know that, and we’ll continue to talk about that, because the question will be, how many starts Can you count on Kyle Bradish? Oh, or the innings, you know, just in terms of coming back from Tommy John and missing a whole year and all of that you know, can you count on him for more than, I don’t know, 150 innings, 160 innings, right? I mean, he’s not going to be a guy that you’re going to pencil in for 210 innings. You know, as you know, what counts as a workhorse in 2025 2026 but, but the eyeball test this, this looked so much like the dominant pitcher that he was two two years ago, and even last year, when he came back, and how well he pitched, knowing that, you Know, it probably was a borrowed time kind of proposition. I mean, we talked about that and and go back and look at the starts that he made last year. He was really, really good, until the elbow finally went for good against Philadelphia back in last June. So I was very encouraged by what we saw, you know, six innings, 81 pitches. I mean, we talked about what his workload would be, that was about what I thought, you know, somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 to 80 pitches. And, you know, again, he gave up two home
Nestor Aparicio 06:28
runs. And I said three four innings and 80 pitches, you’re kind of 80 pitches. Yeah,
Luke Jones 06:33
exactly. I mean, that’s what you want. I mean that under a quote, what else
Nestor Aparicio 06:37
could be more ideal than what he did? I don’t know exactly. I don’t three or four more times than everything we talked about the last seven months, about where’s Corbin burns, and how much money will they need to do that? There’s one more thing to say, and I don’t know if he’s a one, a two, you know, whatever. Good enough. Good enough. Take the ball every five days. Good enough to give you five six innings, to give you a chance to win, better than Dean Kramer most nights. Maybe not as good as Corbin burns, maybe not even as good as Kyle braddish used to be, but good enough.
Luke Jones 07:09
Yeah, and I think you look at this through the lens of look, I don’t need to rank them right this, number one, number two, number three, kind of stuff, but if Kyle Bradish can build on what and when I say, build on what he did, even if he can just do what He did on Tuesday night, if he can
Nestor Aparicio 07:28
do that, does that 28 times next year, they’re, they’re really good baseball team next year. And hold on not if they get a legal in the eighth and Right, right, and they have a lot of Castle and cows are in Mayo. Can’t get out of their own way, right? They have a lot of work
Luke Jones 07:44
to do. We know that. But if you’re looking at this through the lens of what 2026 can look like in and how it needs to go well, for what they have, you have what Trevor Rogers has done, which, again, forget about the number one, number two, number three. He’s pitched well enough to say, hey, he can be one of your top three starters. Let’s say, you know, not necessarily opening day starter, not necessarily a bonafide ace, but, my goodness, he’s got a sub two era. I mean, at some point in time, we’ve got to call a spade a spade and say that that looks really good. But if you have him, and if you have Kyle Bradish, Bill or finish out September healthy, and the stuff looks good, and he gets results anywhere close to what he did on Tuesday night, then those two guys right there, that sounds like a good start to the makings of what you want your top half of your starting rotation to be now, you need another guy to put right there with them, you know? And ideally it’s a guy that is a little bit more of a veteran and takes the ball on opening day. But we’re going to have to see what that looks like, right? Is that going to be a trade? Is that going to be a signing? You know, how much money? You know? David Rubenstein talked a good game on set during Saturday’s press conference with pasio in terms of thinking people are going to like what their roster looks like next year. Okay, show us then. You know, I heard that ish from Angelo’s. I understand, I understand, but he’s not Angelo’s, and we have all you can go off of is the present, and what are you going to do now? Right? So it’s TBD. But my point is, if Kyle Bradish can come back and look like something very close to Kyle Bradish, and he absolutely was that on Tuesday night. Now, how’s he feel Wednesday? How’s he feel Thursday? How’s his side session go? How does his velocity look next time out? All of those questions, all those boxes need to be checked in the same way that he was doing that the last month going through his rehab assignment. But if that holds, then I like having Kyle Bradish and Trevor Rogers as a jumping off point going into the off season in terms of, okay, you still need to add one more high impact starter at least. And then to me. In at least another back end of the rotation, kind of starter to kind of mix with those two guys and Dean Kramer and, you know, go down the list as far as what they can have. So
Nestor Aparicio 10:11
Sugano is gone, right? He he won’t come back, probably, I mean, I mean, he hasn’t been bad. I mean,
Luke Jones 10:18
he’s not an ace, he’s not
Nestor Aparicio 10:19
a number two. I mean, but if he’s your Suarez guy, and you give him 10 million bucks next year to pitch a year, right? I mean, it’s, you know, I don’t that’s what it would look like for him, right? If he wants to play over here again,
Luke Jones 10:29
right? Yeah. I mean, it’s not impossible. I mean, put it this way, and I was
Nestor Aparicio 10:33
trying to figure what their options are, in house, out of house, they’ll have money, Mr. Money Bags, and they’re gonna and they have young guys they could trade and like, and that’s all stupid conjecture. I’m just wondering what they think they have in Suarez, in Povich, in, I mean, none of these guys, they’ve given Povich the ball a lot. He’s just, I mean, they give Kramer the ball a lot, and he’s good enough some of the time.
Luke Jones 11:01
I’ll continue to say Dean Kramer. If they had five Dean Kramer’s this year, they not saying they’d be leading the east or anything like that, because of everything else that’s gone wrong and all that, but their starting rotation would be in a heck of a lot better.
Nestor Aparicio 11:13
Well, he’s taking the ball every fifth day. Let’s start with that. He’s a league average starter. He’s a league average starter. 30 stars different than Corbin burns for 12 games in his arm falls off to sure at any price. You know, it doesn’t matter if somebody’s got to go out and start the games next year. In a perfect world, you’d want seven or eight of those guys to be the names, not 12 or 15 Sure.
Luke Jones 11:37
I mean, it’s and we’ve talked about that, if 2026 is going to be better, no better. No matter how much they do this off season, they need to stay healthy. How many guys have
Nestor Aparicio 11:49
started games this year? I mean, it’s, I mean, it’s up there. I mean, that’s what I was going to ask. I mean, like, sure, that’s a number that, like, I’m looking at it. I’m trying to go through the names. I mean, what? Cal Gibson here for five
Luke Jones 12:00
minutes too. They’ve had a couple guys serve as opener. So Rico Garcia opened the game. Chase McDermott, no. Chase McDermot started that. My apologies, although now he’s relieving. You can add Bradish. They added one more sure, but you know, I looking at it right now. So Bradish started on Tuesday night. Dean Kramer’s made 25 starts. Tomiyuki Sagano has made 25 starts. Sagano has a 4.06 era Nestor, if, on March 15, if I had told you what his total numbers are, right? I mean, obviously he had that stretch over this earlier this summer, where he had a five week period where it
Nestor Aparicio 12:35
was bad, but other than stunk last August too, you know, so like, right? Well, my
Luke Jones 12:40
point is, if, if I told you, Sugano would have a 4.06 era, I think he would have taken that and said, That’s fine. You know, he’s
Nestor Aparicio 12:47
if you told me he made 25 starts, we’re sitting here Labor Day, Week, 25 starts with a four era, I would say, is that what Kramer did? And you’d say, probably yes, Kramer’s at four, right? You’d
Luke Jones 12:57
say, Okay, those two guys probably they did their job, and the problem has been everything else, right? I mean, f1 not staying healthy, Grayson, Rodriguez, not throwing a pitch this year, Charlie Morton, being terrible the first five weeks, to the point where there was no redeeming it statistically, even though they were able to trade them then and all that. But. But the point is, it’s been a lot, and so much of it has been bad. And yeah, just to go through, Kramer, 25 starts, Sagano, 25 starts, Morton, 17 starts, Morton took the ball. I mean, it wasn’t always what you wanted to see, but a Povich, 15 starts, he got he was on the IL Eflin, 14 starts, Rogers, 13 starts, right? I mean, Rogers has been he’s got a 1.4 era. I mean, Rogers is going to get down ballot votes for Cy Young the way it’s going. I mean, you know, I’m not, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying top three or top four, but you know,
Nestor Aparicio 13:47
it’s been among the 10 best pitchers. He’s been among the five best pitchers in baseball the last three months. This is where we get into will Colton cows are hit 320 in September continue to hit 180 like, you know, how, how you finish this race as a, you know, this is a mile and three quarters. This isn’t a six Furlong. So, you know, like wherever it is that they sit in October. I’m not going to judge Kyle braddish on having a busted up arm. If he goes out and has three more starts like he did on Tuesday night, I’ll look at it and say, All right, rest him up. Ice him down. Keep him down of your five. You know he’s let’s get him back in March and or February, and we’ll be ready to go like, I don’t know what all of that is, but we are at the point it’s the first time I’ve asked you about any of this. First time I’ve, like, even looked at Team statistics in a couple of weeks is maybe the all star break sure to say who’s done what on the back of the bubble gum card. I bet I should tell you this, because we’re doing baseball here. Colts reunions happening, and I know the 1975 colts aren’t sexy to you, but to young man like myself, they’re all my first love, right? So I’m I went through all my old tickets looking for my because I’m having some seven. Five guests on. And I know I went to space, I could only find one of the tickets. I found the Jets ticket from November. They won 52 to 19 birth through six that day. So Lidell, the whole deal, right? So I’m looking through tickets, and I found old Oriole tickets. And I was looking through the old Oriole tickets from 75 6789, and I’m seeing what games we had. Dude, my parents got the the Chesapeake Cadillac box seats against the Oakland A’s Vita Blue Blue Moon, Odom Palmer and Reggie in 76 too. I was looking at lineups and stuff like that. So I’m looking back at all of this sort of old minutia. But the one thing I saw is, how many games did Doyle Alexander start that year. Roric Harrison started for the other team. So I’m looking at all the starting pitchers, and it just stands out to you when you see Jim Palmer in a 40 starts a lousy year in 75 my dad was calling him candy ass back then. I won’t tell him that if ever have lunch with him. But this is 50 years ago. Now I go back and say, Well, you know, somebody only started 14 games that year. They must have just called McGregor up, or where was Denny Martinez. Or, you know, I had forgotten that, you know, like certain pitchers had even pitched here, of Rudy, may, you know. So I looked through all of that, and we’re at the point where we have a really meaty piece of what their pitching has looked like this year. That, if you come in and I had been dead the last five months and just looked at it, I’d say, you know, I’d look at some of these, these pictures, and I’d be like, Oh, the Morton thing didn’t work out real well. But the super see why they’re in last place, yeah. But of all the things that worked out, the Japanese pitchers, you know, my age, your age has been okay, and I and again, to your point, if it’s not him, who are they going to sign next year, who we’re going to look at it Labor Day and say, made 25 starts. Pitch to a four era have made 25 starts. Pitch to a four era made 25 starts and pitched to it. 2.7 era. I hope that’s Bradish made, you know, 26 starts and pitched to, uh, I’m trying to be nice here. Two eight era, Rogers. You know, if you got something, if you got sub threes out of those two guys, you’re going to guarantee me a year from right now, we’re going to talk about that, and you could fill the rest of the rotation out with something that’s not Charlie Morton or Kyle Gibson. I mean, I this is where we stop, and then you start bitching about them not hitting the ball. Oh, I mean, because that really, that’s the story of the year, is that they haven’t hit the ball at all, at all anywhere, and they move the fence in.
Luke Jones 17:39
I mean, this, that’s that’s a big part of the story. I mean, obviously the injuries, obviously the pitching hasn’t been good enough, right? I mean, we know that. I mean, we’ve been talking about, we were talking about that before the season started, right? So that, that, to me, wasn’t the surprising part, but the most relevant part of this moving forward is absolutely their offense being as underwhelming as it’s been, right? Where you say, okay, you know. And let me be clear, if you go back and look at what gunners gunner Henderson stats have been since second week of June, something like that. The last two months, he’s been really good. Now he hasn’t hit the long ball to the degree that he did last year, but the numbers look really good overall. And you know, we talked about this, the rib cage and spring training. How much does that zap you have your I like to think they’re
Nestor Aparicio 18:24
going to have a healthier version of not worries guys next year, and that’s going to be mandatory. Because if they’re all going to go on the i l and are all going to get hurt, they’re all going to have this Richmond’s going to stink follow along in that pathway by being hurt, banged up. You know, whatever it is. I it is a lot. It’s a rolling thing. You’re in the middle of it. You’ve had a press pass the last 20 years. I haven’t, but that’s the first thing that hit me as a young man covering baseball, getting to know Brady Anderson and Mike Messina and Ben McDonald is just how fatiguing it is this time of the year when Cal Riley slows down his home run stroke because, like, he’s a catcher, and
Luke Jones 19:01
he’s falling still, and he still hits 50 home runs. I mean, what a story that’s been. But he had funny in the first half. That’s 80, right? But, yeah. I mean, look. I mean, I, I was in Owings Mills for ravens practice on Tuesday. I got to the ballpark early, and you know, what do you see? You see Jordan Westberg and Adley rutschman out on the field with the strength coach going through some rehab stuff. I mean, that’s look one of the big things they need to look at this off season. And it’s not going to be a big thing in terms of garnering any headlines, but they’ve got to look at their strength and conditioning now, keeping pitchers healthy. Good luck with that, right? I mean, that is an industry wide crisis, right? That’s why, to your point, you do need volume. That’s why. No, you can’t just look at it in terms of, hey, we’ve got Bradish back and Trevor Rogers is awesome. We’re good. No, they need another guy to go with those guys. In terms of what you think of as, forget about 123, let’s just say top half of the rotation, right? One to put with them, at least one guy to put with them. And to me, you’re going to need at least one veteran guy to at least put into the back half of the rotation conversation, right? And And that’s assuming, hey, the guys that you have are healthy and so, so you have all that, but the the injuries, strength and conditioning, the hamstring injuries they’ve had, the the oblique injuries. I mean, Adley Rutgers had an oblique strain on both sides. Now, what is going on with their strength and conditioning? What is missing? What is, you know, is it just strictly bad luck. I’m I’m apt to say no, that that there’s some gaps or something needs to change or be tweaked on that front, because they’ve just had a ton of that stuff. I mean, think about the hamstring injuries they’ve had. Nestor, where look, hamstring injuries are a part of the game, right? I mean, we’re going to see ravens players that are going to have some hamstring injuries as we get into the season and and miss a couple games. But they not only have they had so many hamstring injuries, they’ve had hamstring injuries where guys missed two months. I mean, Brian mountcastle missed two months with a hamstring injury, right? I mean, these aren’t 10 day two week variety hamstrings. These have been moderate to major hamstring injuries that they’ve had. So that shouldn’t be happening as frequently as it is. And that tells me that either your guys are not as fully in shape as they need to be, there’s something in your strength and conditioning that has been overlooked or not emphasized enough, right? I mean and, and let me be clear, I’m not expecting Mike Elias to come out in great detail about fixing that necessarily, but internally, that has to be a part of this, because I don’t care how good your roster looks, unless maybe you’re the Dodgers and you spend more money than anyone, you’re not going to survive that many injuries in a given year, right? I mean, you’re going to be in a lot of trouble. And that’s where the Orioles found themselves, right? You go, you go back and look at this season. When was this season truly lost? It was how they played in late April through the third week of May, right? And Hyde was canned in the midst of that four week stretch. But I think it was, I don’t have it in hit
Nestor Aparicio 22:20
the ball a little bit. It would have saved his job.
Luke Jones 22:22
I mean, sure, but they had a third I’m pretty sure that it was a 30 game stretch. I don’t have it right in front of me. I have it in my note notebook that’s in my book bag across the table right now. I believe they went seven and 23 OVER A 30 game stretch. There’s your season right there, if you and obviously you can’t do this, but you take that, just take that out. Not not saying that, you flip the record, or anything like that, just take that out. This is a team that’s played well enough that they would at least mathematically still be in the wild card race, right? I’m not saying they’d be a favorite. I’m not saying that they wouldn’t have other issues. I’m not saying there wouldn’t be other weaknesses about this club. But this season was trashed and in the toilet because of how they played from late April through the third week of May. And go back and look at who they were missing during that period of time. Colton cowser, Jordan Westberg, right pitching that they that they were missing at that point in time. I mean, so I’m not to say that. That’s not to say that all was well, because, well, you just throw that no, that happened. You know, that’s part of it, but the health was such a major piece of this. So, you know, to bring it back to what we were talking about with the pitching, yeah, you you need numbers, right? You need to have eight or nine guys that, look, aren’t all going to be, oh, that that’s a number three starter, right? I mean, no team has that much depth, but you need to have a starting five that you feel really, really good about and then at least a few other guys that you say, hey, if he has to make 10 starts, we feel pretty good about him. If he has to make eight starts, we feel pretty good about him. If this guy you know, who you know, isn’t the most proven, but we like how he his stuff profiles, if he has to make six starts at some point, because we know that we’re not going to have five starters that all make 32 starts, then we can live with that. I mean, you know, the Orioles we talked about this. I mean, they, they kind of built their rotation backwards, right? I mean, they, they tried to load up on a ton of back, half, back half of the rotation guys. And, you know, what’s it good enough? And a big part of that was, I mean, Zach effin didn’t stay healthy, and Grayson Rodriguez didn’t throw a single pitch all season, right? So you obviously can’t repeat that. And, well, I could look,
Nestor Aparicio 24:42
there’s probably a piece. We could go back where you and me and march said, Put the innings in like we’re doing right now, because that’s what you do when you’ve been watching baseball since Rudy May was doing this and grant Jackson was in the bullpen. You know, you’re like, where are the innings coming from? I know how many games are going to play. I can do 162, times, nine and. Especially when you don’t have to do 14 and 15 inning games anymore, right? I mean, they might as well start playing softball games on the double headers, play seven inning games, right? Like they did that during covid. Remember, I’m aware. I’m aware. And put the guy on second base and all of that. A lot of that is shortened up. What they need from pitching, which is what blows Palmer’s mind, throwing 300 innings in a year and saying, look, look, how many innings do we have here? How many 34 pitchers are we going to need this year to get 16 innings out of this and 15 innings out of that? You know what I mean. But if we would have done this at the beginning of the year, Grayson Rodriguez, and I know I can go back to the tapes. You can go back and find this. Grayson Rodriguez was going to be in for 26 starts. And, you know, a three era, three, two, right? I mean, that’s what you wanted at any over two six, you pray against the four, three, right? Opening,
Luke Jones 25:57
30 starts. But, yeah, I mean, look, and
Nestor Aparicio 26:00
we talked about this, I think he’s gonna make none next year, right?
Luke Jones 26:05
I mean, that it’s TBD. I mean, his timetable for the surgery that he had. I mean, he had a bone spur removed from his elbow. He should be ready for spring training. That said, what’s it going to
Nestor Aparicio 26:18
look like? Well, buying anything, right? I mean, there’s no conversation you and I are going to have before April 1 where I’m going to say Grayson Rodriguez. I’m going to give him innings in the same way I refuse to give Bradish today, but I talk about him
Luke Jones 26:32
because if he’s healthy, if he’s healthy and throwing in spring training, he’s one of the five. But
Nestor Aparicio 26:36
I didn’t want to hear Bradish was going to come back and row short in August, in May, if they had been a good team. You know, I don’t want to hear about maybes, and especially now the petites down again. We’ve watched means go down. We’ve seen Bradish go down twice. I don’t and that Rodriguez never came so well. There is a point with with these pictures. I think, like Jim Palmer. You think probably more like Storm Davis, but I, but I would say that error is over with, but I still have to sit here and say, in March, if you and I are going to talk about this baseball team, where the innings coming from, and right now for a minute, let’s all breathe. Kyle Bradish is good for 25 starts next year, and should be pretty good. We We think Rogers is good for 25 starts, and pretty good, hopefully 31 starts, right? 32 right, yeah. But I’ll give you 10 days out with dead arm and stiff period this, and the 15 days tweaks a hamster happens and, you know, I slept the wrong way, whatever it is, right? Had to skip a start. You know, tend tender it is, you know, whatever it happens to be. But I’m just trying to get to where they have four guys that can give them 25 starts and then figure the rest
Luke Jones 27:49
of it out. And I think, I think you throw Kramer in there. Now, I’d like Kramer to be at best, my fourth best starter, right? I’d like him to be my number five, right? I’d like a scenario where you have enough pitching pop that Dean Kramer becomes your long reliever, right? But you also have to be practical and realistic and understand one until michaelias, in this ownership group goes out and spends that kind of money to go get that volume of pitching. You know, it, it’s, I don’t want to say it’s a pipe dream, because they’ll go get pitching, but what exactly is it going to be? But, you know, I will also say there is, there is no planning for what happened with Grayson Rodriguez this past year, right? I this team could have resigned Corbin burns, and you know what their trajectory would have been, very similar to what it ended up being, right? I mean, okay, maybe April or May would have been a little bit better. Corbin burns hasn’t thrown a pitch for Arizona since what may or what early June, whatever it was. But the point is, with Rodriguez, they certainly miscalculated in saying he’s going to be our ace. He’s going to replace Corbin burns. I mean, we were disagreeing with that mindset in February, before they even got to spring training. However, you can’t plan for a guy not to throw any pitches, right? I mean, so Grayson, Rodriguez not throwing a pitch was catastrophic. Zach Eflin only making 14 starts. That’s catastrophic for you, right? So they are going to have to go into this, and there has to be some projecting of what you’re going to expect from guys. Now, as I said, I love Kyle Bradish. Kyle Bradish, when he’s healthy, he is absolutely an ace, not not in the way that you think of an ace that someone that’s been done it for eight or nine or 10 years, right? But in terms of just what it looked like on Tuesday night, Tony mancellino made the comment that he was talking to a couple of the other coaches in the dugout as Bradish was just warming up, he said, that looks a little different, doesn’t I mean, even you know, I mean Dean Kramer, I mean he’s not a high strikeout guy. Sagano hasn’t struck out anybody this year, right? I mean, Zach Eflin is not a big strikeout. Guy, even when he’s right. Trevor. Trevor Rogers, as phenomenal as he’s been, he’s not a guy that is going out there and striking out 10 or 11 every start. He’s been much more, you know, command and first pitch strikes and getting ahead and not walking people. You know, he will strike some people out. I’m not, I’m not trying to be dismissive of what he’s done, but radish at his best is what we saw on Tuesday night. Strikes out 10 in six innings, right? I mean, that’s that’s scruple kind of stuff. That’s Garrett crochet kind of stuff, right there. So how many starts can he give you next year? TBD, right? I mean, for me right now, it’s, how does he feel Wednesday afternoon when he gets to the ballpark? How does he feel on what Thursday or Friday when he throws his next bullpen? What does the velocity look like his next time out when he’s on the road pitching, right? I mean, and that’s not to say that it’s going to be perfect, but stay healthy, right? Get through September, make every start that the Orioles want you to make in this in September and go into the off season with a normal off season right where he can, he can rest, you know, to start out the winter, and then start ramping up in January. That’s what most these guys end up doing, and then feel good, pain free. I mean, I mean, keep in mind, again, he was so he was terrific with his elbow being in the stadium. It’s one of those
Nestor Aparicio 31:23
things you can’t wait to see him pitch again. Now you’ll, you’ll circle this weekend. It’s radish day, yeah. I mean, let’s keep an eye on him, because he’s the chance to win next year. Like, yeah. I mean, they have to have that. They have to have somebody take the ball and pitch, and then the inning six months trying to figure out what’s wrong with Adley rutchman, whether Messiah is going to live up to the big number. Now
Luke Jones 31:47
we need another bad number. But I mean, and we’ll save this for another conversation, because we don’t want to make this too long, but I’ll continue to say this, they need another legitimate bat this winter, and I don’t know what that’s going to look like exactly. It ain’t Tyler O’Neill dog, sure, and that’s not, you know, Tyler O’Neill, hey, if he’s healthy, then fine. He put him in the lineup. But I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen more than 100 times next year. Maybe best case scenario, right? But they need another legitimate bat. There’s no question about that. Well, this is
Nestor Aparicio 32:17
where the awakening of mayo, the awakening of holiday, as I want to see, when Jackson holiday becomes George Brett or Joe Morgan, when gunner Henderson legitimately can be Alex Rodriguez and and like, put those numbers up at shortstop, when Kobe Mayo can at least do what Ryan mountcastle did on his best day at first base or Santander. But you’re talking about Santander numbers and Dude, did we take that guy for granted? Like, we took Nelson Cruz for granted? Like we took three add Chris uh Davis, right? Like, dude second hit 290 and hit 38 home runs and driving 120 runs that that’s just not that Eddie Murray stuff’s not normal. And you and when you let a Santander go, or let him age out, or let him contract out, or don’t give him $100 million I don’t know how you replace that. You get desperate looking for Tyler O’Neill,
Luke Jones 33:11
yeah. I mean, look, they’re going to be bats out there, especially if you know whether they’re willing to spend money or if they’re willing to make a trade, right? I mean, there are bats that that can be I mean, by the way, have you seen what Ramon Laureano has done for the Padres? He’s been, he’s been their best player. Now, of course, they they have Machado, of course they have tatis, right? He’s not their best player overall, but over the last month, he’s probably been their hottest hitter. I mean, he’s been fantastic for them. He’s, he’s hitting 330 for them. He has 1000 ops for the Padres right now. I mean, he’s, he’s hit six home runs. He had a big hit, a grand slam on Tuesday night. We’re going to be looking at
Nestor Aparicio 33:53
that. Would say they could have divers, you know, he they could
Luke Jones 33:57
have had him next year. So we’re going to be looking at that. And look, that’s not to say that the trade that they made with the Padres and the pitching prospect that they got, you know, who, Boston Bateman, who’s now one of their best prospects in their system, but is not going to be pitching for them next year. But, you know, we’re going to look at that, because it’s one thing to talk about the rentals, but Ramon Laureano could have
Nestor Aparicio 34:19
been Michael ice is going to be running the team in 40 days. Because I, you know, I think he is. But you know, all important thing, who’s going to run the place, who’s going to manage the place, who’s going to pick the donuts, who’s going to pick the ingredients.
Luke Jones 34:38
I mean, all signs are pointing to that, you know, I had, it’s always abrupt when they fire a general manager, yeah. I mean, that is a little bit different than the manager, right? Because the manager, you could see it on Brandon Hyde’s face. I mean, I, I don’t, I don’t think I texted you the night before Hyde was let go, but the body language, the tone that. Remember that was that terrible game against the Nationals Friday. They kicked the ball around and like, it was such a winnable game, and they didn’t win it. And it’s like, how did you not win this game? And let me be clear, I wasn’t planning and anticipating the acts to fall that next day, because, for one I was planning for getting ready to go to my niece’s birthday party. But it felt like the the end was near, like it felt like this might happen in the next week, like that’s how bad it felt. General Manager, I don’t know if there’s ever, because the general managers now isn’t front facing in on a daily basis, like a manager is but, but, yeah, but all signs are pointing to that right? I mean, and I’m not even saying whether it’s right or wrong, or what they should or shouldn’t do, I think that’s what’s going to be the reality of it. So what are you going to do? They absolutely look I love that, that Dylan beavers is here. I love what Dylan beavers has done in this early you know, this small sample size, I like what Jeremiah Jackson has done in his opportunities. He, to me, looks like he could be a nice bench piece for you next year. You know, I, I want to see him play a little bit more infield, because, you know, they’ve thrown him out in the outfield. It’s like, hey, learn how to play right field. And you know, he’s, he’s an infielder by trade. Well, it just goes to show how little regard they actually have for what’s really happening on the field at this point, right? I mean, tryouts at this point, it is, it is. But that’s why what Kyle Bradish did on Tuesday night was so meaningful. It wasn’t about, oh, well, hey, the Orioles can win a few more games in September. I don’t care about that also beating teams that are trying to win. Sure. I mean, you want to, you want to be competitive in that regard. But this is all about projecting out for next season, and Kyle Bradish was a great sign of that. But, yeah, their offense. I mean, you made mention of you’d like gunner Henderson’s numbers to look more like Alex Rodriguez. And noted, right? I mean, I understand the point you’re making there. Heck, I take a few more of these guys looking anything close to what gunner Henderson has it been even in a down year, I take that for from two or three of these other guys
Nestor Aparicio 37:05
doubles, for crying out loud,
Luke Jones 37:06
draw wall. I mean, you know bad I don’t want to pick on him because he’s still in his age don’t strike out. I don’t want to pick on him because he’s still in his age, 21 season, and I still project good things for him moving forward. But Jackson holidays really fallen off here over the latter portion of the song.
Nestor Aparicio 37:24
Is it 21 year old kids? 115 games. In how many games he plays? Play 123
Luke Jones 37:28
you know, he’s played all but, all but what he’s they played 132 games. You know, he’s at 120 and you know why? Very early in the season they were still resting him against left handed starters. Remember? Starters. Remember that? That’s why he’s been an everyday player since about mid May, right? I mean, he’s played all but he got, a few days ago he got they’re riding him like a horse. He’s but, and that’s all guys get tired. That’s also part of the maturation process, though, for a young ball player like it’s a 162 game season. No, you don’t need to be Cal Ripken and play every single inning of 320
Nestor Aparicio 38:04
inside. Remember, we’ll all talk say good things about you in the offside,
Luke Jones 38:08
but you’ve got to post up, and I need you to play 150 I mean, look, if that burden is too great, then you shouldn’t have been one one, right? I mean, it’s that simple, so and TBD, right? I mean, Adley rutschman is looking like a disappointing one, one at this point, I’m certainly not, uh, you know, I six years later, it’s obvious they should have drafted Bobby Witt, right? I mean, and there are some people who thought that at the time, but what would happen to gunner? Sure, right, right? And, you know, you never know what changes went whenever that happened. They could have traded him for scuba, yeah. Who knows? Right? So, but, but you just look at this and you know, Kyle braddish looking like the way he did on Tuesday night. That was great. I mean, that was outstanding. There couldn’t have been better there, if you have him and Trevor Rogers understanding, Trevor Rogers isn’t going to continue with a 1.4 but let’s say Trevor Rogers next year can be a three era pitcher. I mean, that’s still, you know, that’s still number two, number three kind of stuff, right there, if you have those two guys, and you can pencil in those two guys for 25 plus starts, you know, to your point, you know something’s going to happen, right? I mean, someone gets skipped, you know, a little bit of fatigue, whatever, if you can do that. And then dean Kramer does what Dean Kramer does, which is, you know, you always talk about replacing it, but he posts up for you. He gives you innings. He’s league average, which even the best teams in baseball, you know, when you’re talking about playoff rotations, you’re number four and your number five are league average type guys, right? I mean, that’s, that’s kind of how it works. So, so there’s three All right, what else are you going to do? Who else is going to be in that conversation? That’s not to say that Kate Povich won’t go to spring training, you know, with them, giving them a look, but he better not be one of your projected top four or five, right? I mean, that’s, that’s. Not what we’re looking for here. You want him to be your long man out of the bullpen, or your number six or number seven or number eight starter, right? So, and go down the list of the other guys they have as well. I mean, you know, maybe they will resign Sagano. I don’t know. I’ll be 36 I’d like them to aim higher than that, right? But certainly, they need to sign at least one other starting pitcher that’s markedly better than him, so we’ll see. They’ve got a lot of work to do. But Kyle Bradish that looked, that looked like Kyle Bradish on Tuesday night. And you know, we never truly, 100% unequivocally, said that about Felix Batista. We never said that about John means when he came back, and that’s the other part of this. They need this to be they need this to be right. They need Kyle Bradish to be right, right. Tommy John’s not a death sentence. It’s it stinks. You hate it because a pitcher misses a year plus, but the return rate’s really
Nestor Aparicio 40:54
high. Give it to me if I can go six and strike out 10 on they need this to be the
Luke Jones 40:59
one that is pretty seamless. They need this to be Kyle Bradish comes back and is Kyle Bradish, and Tuesday night was a great first step in that happening, but obviously a long way to go, and hopefully he’s feeling good here. And to your point, looking forward to seeing him pitch again
Nestor Aparicio 41:15
in five days. Is that good news out of Birdland? Did we just do a good news segment from a last place team. Luke Jones is here. He is Baltimore, Luke, we’re going to get after the Ravens as well here this week, as we get up, really ready for Buffalo. We got Labor Day happening around here. We are really proud of our new sponsorship with GBMC. I’m going to be doing a whole lot of not just men’s health issues, but just health issues in a general sense, they have corralled me. I’ve had three people shame me about the colonoscopy thing this week. You can be the fourth, Luke, now that you’re over 40, so you can beat me up a little bit. I will be getting all of that done, not next week, but maybe the week after buffalo. I’m making my appointments. I’m trying to be a good doobie around here. My thanks to Coppin State for sponsoring us as well as we now enter a school season, a Labor Day. It is a big, big football season ahead. I know we just did baseball around here. We won’t be doing so much of that in the off season. It will be all things Buffalo and go time next week. I’m Nestor. He’s Luke. We are W, N, S T AM, 1570 tasks in Baltimore. We never stopped talking Baltimore. Positive. Yeah.
