As the Orioles remain on a pace to lose 100 games, Luke Jones joined Nestor at Faidley’s Seafood at Lexington Market in downtown Baltimore to discuss the lack of success against left-handed pitching, continued losing and wonder if Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg can create a June spark to lift a last-place team toward .500 before the end of summer.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Orioles’ recent performance and future outlook. The team has struggled, particularly against left-handed pitchers, with a 29th-ranked OPS and a 28th-ranked batting average. Despite a recent nine-game winning streak, they are still on pace for a 95-97 loss season. Key players like Gunnar Henderson and Colton Cowser have shown improvement, but overall, the team’s hitting has been disappointing. The conversation also touched on potential trades, with Cowser and Adley Rutschman being key players. The discussion highlighted the need for the team to trend positively moving forward.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Orioles, All-Star break, left-handed pitching, Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Tyler O’Neill, Mike Elias, player development, trade deadline, Colton Cowser, Jackson Holiday, pitching struggles, team performance, fan engagement, ownership.
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 towns Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We are positively down here in the heart, in the mecca of downtown Baltimore, as I stare at parks fried chicken out here, we’re at Lexington market, beautiful Lexington market, historic Lexington market. We are at fade leaves in Lexington market. This is Luke Jones. I’m Nestor. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. Happy, Back to the Future. Scratch offs the Maryland lottery. Liberty, pure curio wellness. All sending us out on the road to do this thing called the Maryland crab cake tour. I would show you the crab cake, but we already ate them. It was delicious. It’s all delicious as always, as always. Luke is here because the Orioles are entertaining the angels here this weekend. We’re gonna talk a little Oriole baseball here, going into the weekend and out of the week, and added Jared screw here we go again, dude in the good days, win two out of three. Win two, win series, win series by four, game series, win series. Just don’t lose series. Don’t ever lose a series, and stay ahead a little bit. That’s how you get ahead on, you know, 1520 games over 500 or 30 games over 500 sure they lost another series. And you can feel good about scoring a bunch of runs in the eighth and ninth inning on, you know, in the middle game, and turning a game into a blowout. That could have been a blowout earlier. Um, it’s such a weirdly flawed team. I mean, and when left handed pitchers pitch, we’re, you know, we’re into the middle of June now, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anything like this, and I wouldn’t say from a good team, because they’re not a good team. They’re a bad team. It’s one of the things that makes you a bad team is having these trends. Of none of them are good right now. They don’t have a lot of good trending
Luke Jones 01:40
going on, no, and obviously people were optimistic about winning nine of 11, and look, they’re playing better baseball overall over the last three, three and a half weeks. But at the same time, most teams in baseball are going to have a stretch where they win nine of 11 or something like that, right? I mean, unless you’re talking about the Rockies, right? So, yeah, they’re playing better. But is it anything that’s moving the needle? Is it anything that’s allowing them to climb out of this colossal hole that they dug themselves by the middle of May? And to me, the answer is very clearly, no. They won nine of 11. They lost in Sacramento. I told you at the as we were recapping that series, that that really felt bad knowing Detroit was coming in, knowing that the A’s had been so terrible and you dropped two out of three. If you’re 15 games over 500 you can live with losing a series here and there, right? I mean, it happens to everyone, but they just, they don’t have any of that, so they lose to the A’s. They come home Tuesday night was the game that looked the most winnable on paper. They lost that game. They won a Wednesday night. To your point. I mean, they scored 10 runs for the first time. I mean, their highest run output since opening day was a three to
Nestor Aparicio 02:52
one game, right? I mean, and it was a game where they could have blown the Oh yeah. Won the game
Luke Jones 02:57
twice. They were one for 12 with runners in scoring position through the first five or six innings, I think, which is not that that’s not a trend, that’s a habit. Oh, I mean, that’s been, that’s a story, of their story, part of their story, and then the other part of their story. As far as as it pertains to the offense, of course, we know the pitching, but they have been a disaster against left handed pitching. And, you know, it started the second half of last year, but not to this degree, right? I mean, it wasn’t this extreme. You look at them. I mean, they have the worst o, p, s in the majors against left handed pitching. I think they are 29th and batting average only the Rockies are worst or worse against left handed pitching. And you’re going to going up against Eric skuble. I mean, it’s not as though he struck out 15 and totally humiliated them, as I pointed out, and as others were pointing out, guys given up one run in his last 30 and two thirds innings. I think it is. He does this against everyone but seven innings, six strikeouts, three hits. You know, they had a couple opportunities very early in the game to put a run or two on the board. And then dean Kramer, who was was the bulk guy, they used Aiken as an opener,
Nestor Aparicio 04:01
just a garden variety, quality start. I mean, he, hey, he went
Luke Jones 04:05
seven innings, but that one, the fourth inning, killed him. You give up two home runs. You groove a couple balls, a couple times. He was ahead in the count. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 04:13
when you’re going up against Google, you there’s not, there’s no margin for error in now. I
Luke Jones 04:18
mean, you can’t do that. I mean, there’s no shame in losing to Tarik skubel. It’s but it’s just a snapshot of the bigger picture that they have just been an utter disaster. The problem is they make every left hander look like Tarek skubel. That’s truly the problem. I mean, I referenced Jacob, Calvin Meyer, the of the Sun. He had a tweet recently putting out what Randy Johnson, you know what the splits slash line was against him, his Cy Young year, and that’s the Orioles slash line against everyone this year, all left handers this year. So it just speaks to how wild it’s been Craziest thing to me, and I’ll use this as an example. And to his credit, Gunner Henderson, all three games of this series. Against Detroit. He had a hit against the left hander. Have you seen what his numbers are against lefties? Though it’s extraordinarily bad. He he has a, he’s having career high numbers against right handed pitchers this year. But he has, I think, going into, I think I had it written down, I don’t have it right in
Nestor Aparicio 05:18
front of the first two weeks, right
Luke Jones 05:19
but, but going into, you know, going into, well, it was only the first week, though, okay. I mean, he missed a week, but going into Thursday night, he had a 422, ops against left handed pitching. I mean, that’s, it’s like a pitcher like, that’s as bad as Chris Davis was when he cratered at the end of his career. But gunner has been great against right handers. Now, again, it’s good. He’s had a hit against the lefty in three straight games going into this weekend series, so maybe starting to turn the corner in that way. But that’s going to
Nestor Aparicio 05:49
measuring small here. That’s gone on. Your best players had a hit every couple days you’re mentioning it is. That’s what I’m but, but that’s but that’s where it’s been. If we were doing good news on the Orioles this year was really Baltimore positive, I don’t know where we began.
Luke Jones 06:00
Literally, he has 14 hits against left handers this year. He’s been phenomenal against right handed pitching. He’s been a disaster against left handed pitching. And look, gunners aware of it. I’m not trying to pick on him specifically. They’re all struggling against lefties. I mean, it’s why they’re collectively so eight weeks ago,
Nestor Aparicio 06:16
we’re trying to figure out if Jackson holiday is a major leaguer, right? I mean,
Luke Jones 06:20
he’s, he’s, he’s held his own against lefties about as as well as you could expect a 21 year old left handed batter. I mean, he’s, he’s got, like, a 624,
Nestor Aparicio 06:30
interesting year for him all the way around as we get to the middle of it, just on where the growth for the organization, for him is, because he’s also the one, one, right? He’s also the guy that, well, you know, if the catcher doesn’t make it, and Henderson just going to be a really good, all star player, not an MB, but not a superstar, not a true superstar, a $300 million player, yeah, this time last year, we’re talking about, they’re on fire. They’re the greatest. Where’s Mr. Moneybags going to get all the money to
Luke Jones 07:01
pay now’s the time you could try to sign some of these guys on the cheap. I mean, the question is, Who do you want to extend? I mean, I have no interest in extending Adley rutgersman right now. Like zero. I wouldn’t that’s not to say that wouldn’t change a year from now, maybe, but until he
Nestor Aparicio 07:16
sending it, what price? I mean,
Luke Jones 07:17
that’s the thing, and that’s always the question. And let me be clear, there is another team in baseball almost as disappointing as the Orioles, the Atlanta Braves. They were the team that extended so many of their young players. And I don’t want to say it’s buyer’s remorse with all of them, because that would be two steps to false remorse left Freddie three and walk out the door. There is. But the point is, now you look at some of those long term deals they did, and I would question, I don’t know if they’re going to love all of those 2345, years down the line. So there’s always nuance with this. And we know it’s a very difficult game young players, especially, we see guys have great years, and then they become what Adley ruts been. I don’t
Nestor Aparicio 07:58
know what cows are. Westberg are going to be. I think Westberg might be the best player of all of them. Like I’ve said that, I’ll continue to say that. But maybe he, he might be the 110 years from now we look up and his stat line looks more, Markus, more BJ, sur off over the course of a body of work, where? But all the questions in play that we had last year, when it kind of fell apart in the second half. Are back in play. About the individual players. Other Where is going? Is he going to strike out last he go play defense? It’s gunner Henderson. Going to be a shortstop or third base, right? What’s going to happen with Richmond? I mean, holidays, the one thing that to me, I don’t have any questions.
Luke Jones 08:37
I mean, there’s a question of how good he’s going to become, will he be? But
Nestor Aparicio 08:41
he’s here to stay. But he’s not going back down to Norfolk. He’s not Coby mayo. He’s not asking her. I
Luke Jones 08:46
mean, Westberg is not going to westburg Gunner Adley. I mean, they’re not going back to Norfolk in the way that Heston kersta was demoted this I hope they don’t hit a speed bump, start hitting 215 the way Adley did. Sure, no question. I mean, that’s why I’ve kind of said, look, it’s all tied together because these guys struggling are some of the biggest reasons why they’re struggling, obviously the pitching side, but we’ve talked about it, their hitting has been nearly as disappointing as the pitching. I’ve said, whether you’re talking about Mike Elias, whether you’re talking about Tony mancillino and the rest of the coaching staff, front office, baseball ops, everyone that that has a hand in this mess that 2025 has been the biggest objective the rest of the year, for me is not how many more games you can win. It’s getting that group of young core players trending, trending in the right direction again. I mean the arrows up on Jackson holiday, the rest of these guys, you know, gunners had a good year. Can
Nestor Aparicio 09:45
only be down when the expectation is 30 home runs in 100 and look, I mean, now Mike Schmidt can do that every night, you know, Cal Ripken to do that. And that’s where I
Luke Jones 09:55
want to be fair and how I’m talking about gunner Henderson. Me, Gunner Henderson, still, you. Playing at Adam well above average, 23 four. He’s getting ready to turn 24 he’ll be 24
Nestor Aparicio 10:06
soon. I am right. 2324 Okay, so, so
Luke Jones 10:08
like he’s fine in a big picture sense, although you certainly want to see him get straightened out
Nestor Aparicio 10:13
when he’s 26 or 27 the way ruchman is, and if he’s still hitting 259, and marginal power candidate against lefties? Yeah.
Luke Jones 10:22
I mean, not more. I mean he’s got good power. The question is, lefties, and what’s frustrating about it is, the last couple years, he showed much more of an ability to hit lefties. Doesn’t mean he’s going to be as good against lefties as he is against righties. Most left handed hitters aren’t going to fit that description, but you can’t. You don’t want it to be so extreme where you’re talking about the P word platoon, right? You know, they’re obviously not going to do that with Gunner. I mean, they still had him batting third against Google. You could question whether that was smart. Good question, whether he was the guy or Jackson. Holiday should have been the one dropped in the order, and holiday they drove they dropped down the sixth. You know, I’m not, I’m not going to sit here and split hairs about the batting order that in a game they weren’t going to win either. Right? Exactly, exactly. I mean, Dylan Carlson’s the guy who got a couple hits off. This
Nestor Aparicio 11:08
is the problems do, by the way. Luke Jones is here where fade leads is all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery had the Back to the Future scratch off somebody to be giving away here momentarily. You know, I think that’s one of the issues with the whole thing as we talk about it, in totality, and saying what’s trending up, what’s trending down, I’m trying to find things to talk about here that could be, we could be enthusiastic about, well, I think, I mean, I don’t know whether it’s
Luke Jones 11:37
healthy and back, okay, that Colton cows are healthy and back in the lineup, although he crashed into the wall really hard on Thursday night, so we’ll kind of keep an eye on that over the course of the weekend. But I think that’s a big part of it, and that’s why you know the news Thursday that Tyler O’Neill shoulders bothering him again. I mean, they thought he was gonna be back next week, you know? I mean, he’s got a three year deal. He’s not opting out. I think that ship, that ship has certainly sailed, that ship probably sailed by Easter
Nestor Aparicio 12:05
the way that he could hate Baltimore, but he’s staying, yeah, but, you know,
Luke Jones 12:09
but he, in fairness, he also still has two years left on his deal, when he’s been healthy in his career. It’s not as though he hasn’t been a productive major league player. I mean, that’s why they signed him, what, whether they were smart and doing that or not. I mean, certainly
Nestor Aparicio 12:21
it’s another indictment of Elias, right? One more sure well. And
Luke Jones 12:24
what’s interesting about it is guys like me and I’ll, I’m going to lump myself in with this group. I’ve talked about him being risk averse and at times, maybe needing to take a few more chances. He took a chance on Tyler O’Neill, right? I mean, he gave him a three year deal, knowing that his history was He’s not a guy who’s played more than 100 games in his career more than a couple times, right? So, you know, he did it. Obviously there was a need for them against left handed pitching that has played out this year.
Nestor Aparicio 12:52
Whatever money they’ve pissed away on him, let you know, like this year, it doesn’t matter, because they’re in last place with or without him. Right? To your point, what’s he going to be next year? Right? If we’re paying him exactly, and he could
Luke Jones 13:02
still be productive over the next couple years. So that’s
Nestor Aparicio 13:04
where I at least he is a major league baseball player, right? When he when
Luke Jones 13:08
he’s healthy, right? I mean, he wasn’t good earlier this year. I think the neck shoulder issue, I think, I think that started bothering him not long after opening day, when you kind of look his first week, he looked like he was a good signing, right handed Babe Ruth. I mean, that’s what he looked like the first week, and since then, I think, think he went like seven for 60 years, like something really bad, but and had a character for him. See, I think Tyler O’Neill’s a great example here of, for me, the difficulty in evaluating where they are right now with Mike Elias, his future, you know whether he’s going to be the guy beyond this year, because you do look at the body of work they did. He did rebuild the organization. This was an organization that we knew, even when they were winning with Bucha Walter and Dan to cat, they were still very much in the stone age as it pertained to analytics and player development, green scouting, you know, farms, farm system, Dominican, all of that. And they’ve, they’ve made hay in those areas. Now, there’s still work to be done. Clearly, they’ve hit, I don’t want to even say hiccups. Hiccups would be, you know, an understatement at this point, because even their minor leagues have been underwhelming this
Nestor Aparicio 14:16
year, stuck on the rocks, you know. But that said,
Luke Jones 14:21
I think you need to trend care, you know, tread very carefully before you just say you’re going to throw them out. Because, to the point that we’ve talked about a lot, what capability, what chops does this ownership group have to hire a replacement if you decide that that’s what you’re going to do? And let me be clear, that’s not to say that michaelias gets a pass for the next five years. I’m not saying that at all, by the way, Cal Ripken sitting behind home plate with hardball the other night, right he was and I thought it was funny how they did not even try to catch the foul ball that landed right by them. I thought that was pretty I was funny, but, but I think this is
Nestor Aparicio 14:53
where I’ve struggled with Elias, because, you know, you can go back and find conversations that we had two or three years ago of so. Certain elements that I took issue with as far as how they were proceeding. But prior to this year, if you had told me whether I was pleased with the overall body of work of michaelias, of course, I’d say yes. Well, when Rubenstein took over the team 14 months ago, there’d be no thought that he’d be making a baseball decision of this kind. He had a manager at a general manager. They made it through the rain. They made it to 101 wins. They now have money bags. They get their 600 million. They’re gonna throw you out of the press box. What’s left of us at the left field? It’s a whole different circumstance, not just I mentioned Cal Ripken. I just to be a little flippant, because it is people think he’s going to be involved in this, if he wanted to be involved, and I think he’d have been involved. I think that would have happened 20 years ago. I think really wanted, but I think there’s also pressure. And I would tell John maroon this, Hey dude, you saddled up in this. You sit behind own plate, and you look like Cal Ripken, and you, you know, people think that you’re some baseball savant or some genius who’s going to Johnny Bravo the next Mike Elias cow doesn’t that’s not what Cal does, and to think of it in those terms, you’re just being reverential to the sacred cow. You’re not really speaking to what modern baseball is, and what a 74 year old billionaire owner is going to have to go through with no baseball expertise and no baseball people around him, and I’m sure people are stepping in him now do this through that fire, just in the same way the world is. He’s a neophyte owner. I haven’t liked anything about anything about what’s happened under his ownership, anything. There’s nothing to hang our hat on yet, yet? I mean, I don’t know. So if it was gonna be dramatic change, you would have seen it. There’s been dramatic change, dude, during last place. Well, I dramatic.
Luke Jones 16:49
I don’t think then be. I will say, in fairness to ownership, I don’t think they’re being in last place has anything to do with ownership, but it’s a
Nestor Aparicio 16:57
dramatic change in everything psychologically about, how they’re gonna sell tickets every part of their business, including the streaming, every part of that is now you’re the next owner who stinks, who’s in last place, who’s fired, a manager is hanging around with Cal Ripken, and Cal may or may not want to be hanging around with you, in a general sense, to think that you know what you’re doing, Cal has To say, oh, Rubenstein. He’s the greatest. Everybody has to say that, except he hasn’t done anything to make me say that, sure, and putting a bobble head of yourself together and ducking me, and you got a seat. And I don’t, I just, I’m not down with that. I’m not down with that. And I tell them that if you walked in here now, I just think it’s been, this has really, been poorly handled dude over the last 15 months. I mean, as we sit here going into the all star board, I mean, we’re doing the show here in a day when I plan to do these Fridays, thinking downtown is going to be packed for more than the fireworks actually gonna come for the baseball. I mean, now you get an empty stadium all summer, right? Yeah. I mean, just giveaway days, yeah, the momentum has been not squandered. It’s been, not even just lost. It’s been, you’ve resurrected the bad vibes that Angelo’s gave for 30 years. Yeah. I mean, certainly for me
Luke Jones 18:10
and and that’s where it’s tough for and this was gonna be tough for any, whoever the owner was gonna be, right? I mean, there’s 30, if not 40, years. I mean, you hear me say it all the time. I’m 40,
Nestor Aparicio 18:21
but you can fall on your face and be revered against Angelo’s. And this guy ate off of that last summer for a while. Now he’s not even eating off of that, but the people I bought
Luke Jones 18:30
things were going to go this south on the field in the way that they have, which no one predicted, even the most pessimistic this offseason would not we’re not for blaming Rubenstein. Let me see. What are you gonna do about, I’m saying exactly equipped, but that’s the thing. I mean, you thought you would come in and say what you want about the business side, corporate sponsorships, the future with TV, all that. I mean, all those questions were there and are still there, but, but you thought the baseball side was going to deodorize a lot of that while you figured it out in the same way we were kind of sort of talking about that in as complimentary terms as John Angelus might have deserved over the last few years, which is not much, but hey, they did hire michaelias. They got out of the way. They rebuilt the organization. They were successful doing that.
Nestor Aparicio 19:15
But go back to Angelus press conference on Martin Luther King Day, which was right out of the Trump playbook. And for being a Democrat and a progressive and all, that’s a John A was, but that’s what ownership looked like two years ago. Now, ownership looks like Bud Selig doing this, you know, like saying, I, you know, I bought the team. I got a lot of money, but, I mean, one thing you learn that he’s going to learn as a billionaire, you’re not buying this well. You can go in and buy funeral homes. You can buy, you buy anything you want when you’re a billionaire, but you can’t buy wins in baseball. Yeah, like, and he knows that. Sure he’s up on
Luke Jones 19:52
that well. And I think, you know, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that this weekend, a year ago, this weekend, you. The Phillies were in town. The ballparks were packed. And I know it was crazy, I get it. There were a lot of Philadelphia fans and Fleet Week. But at the same time, the Orioles won two out of three. The ballpark was rocking. They went to the Bronx right after that, when we were sitting at Costas, and they had their high water mark. There were 24 games over 500 you there were a lot of people who thought they were the best team in baseball a year ago. At
Nestor Aparicio 20:22
this time, I thought they were the best. Like them, they’ve been in my lifetime, like a switch in regard to where the future was. You know, I spoke of their future a year ago as well, even if they screw this up a little, yeah, there’ll be a playoff team, right
20:35
that, and that’s where. And
Nestor Aparicio 20:38
believe me, you’ve heard me be critical, we’ve criticized them a lot. I still am at a loss for just how much has gone bad and how it’s gone this bad. I still can’t wrap my head around it entirely. Yeah, the pitching part is there anything to compare it to? I mean, I remember the Mets had a Pulsifer, his ring housing, and whoever their other stud was, and then the next time around, they had Cinder guard, but they went to a World Series. You know, they did some things. I’m trying to think of a young kiddie core that one year looked like the 95 Indians, yeah, and two years later, is just dog meat. I don’t even like the cops kind of fell apart kind of quickly. But not really. They won a World Series,
Luke Jones 21:20
I think about it, and obviously their pace has improved a bit here over the last two and a half weeks or so. But, you know, you still look at their pace, I mean, they’re still on pace to be a 95 to 97 loss team. You know, I can’t remember what it is exactly as you’re as we’re talking in real time, but you know, to go from 101 and 61 to still being a 91 win team last
Nestor Aparicio 21:41
year, all your young players are coming in, and their guys
Luke Jones 21:45
are ascending, and other guys are arriving, and all that for it to fall apart this way. That’s why I’ve said, like, if you look at this in terms of the way that they would look at it, you know, being analytics minded, you know, analysis, they’ve got predictive models that they’re running simulations about. You know, if player A does this, Player B does this, like, you know, what’s that looking in terms of, you know, you go down the list, what’s our most likely outcome in terms of wins and losses and all that. So if you laid all that out there, I would, I would venture to guess that this was, like, a bottom one or 2% likelihood as far as the outcome of this many things going wrong, losing to the degree that they have, I mean, the idea, think about it, you and I, back in March, did we ever, at any point talk about Brandon Hyde being on the on the hot seat? I’m sure we addressed it, from a standpoint of, you know, if they didn’t have the kind of year that they’re expecting, could there be a change at the end of the year, something, if they got swept in the
Nestor Aparicio 22:48
playoffs, struggle and become a 500
Luke Jones 22:50
think about it. He’s been gone for three and three weeks now. I mean, just, I look at the entire thing and it’s still, it still, really does baffle me in a lot of ways, of why this many things have gone wrong, and I it kind of makes me feel dumb Nestor like because I’m around the team, not that they’re not that I’m privy to so much of their proprietary behind the scenes work that they’re doing in the way that all major league teams are. But Well, the discovery of what’s wrong with ruchman sits in the middle of Sure. And, I mean, we saw him look better on the road trip that people have broke down the fact that he’s eliminated the toe tap. But we’ll see. You know, I need to see more than a week or two of Adley rutschman. Maybe looking like Adley rut again. I’m not looking like half Adley rushman. I like, look at him. Look be look at 240 I need to see him look like a star. Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah. And, you know, he was never a 300 hitter, but he certainly was not a guy that was hovering around the Mendoza line the way that he has for the better part of a calendar year now. So, so that’s where so much of this is just, it’s just so messy, and let’s go talk about football. Then, yeah, you know. I mean, I, you know, I, I, I feel like we’ve had the same conversation.
Nestor Aparicio 24:00
Yeah, the school thing, you know, I lose another series just Yeah, and also winning 10 to one one night, which makes everybody feel good for a minute a half. And I feel good about it. I feel good about six game winning streaks. And then I look up in their 13 games under 500
Luke Jones 24:14
and that, and that right there, is where it’s so tough through looking through the lens, they could even get to 500 is such an incredible think about it, this team at this point in time. So going into this series, they’re 27 and 40. That’s that’s not good. Captain Obvious, right? No, duh,
Nestor Aparicio 24:32
third worst team. But think about it, if they played
Luke Jones 24:35
10 games over 515 games over 500 the rest of the way, just talking about that in isolation, you’d feel good about that, right? If they
Nestor Aparicio 24:44
finish the season at 500 after they deal whatever three or four key players are going to deal. And look, that’s to me in August and September, because it’s not that far off, and we’re six weeks out on that, right? They’re not going to be a contender. All star games going to happen, and the trades gonna happen from. August and September, if they can be a 500 team in those two months with a diminished team that that would feel
Luke Jones 25:07
if it’s decent, if it’s the young core guys leading the way, that’s what I mean, right? Exactly.
Nestor Aparicio 25:11
I mean, once they diminish team, I’m not expecting Zac efland to be making starts in September. I’m really not. I mean that you’re gonna take your number one out, because you’re gonna get some value
Luke Jones 25:20
for Wilson again, I still think the trade deadline has so much nuance to it, but much more than you know where they were three or four years ago when they’d get to the trade deadline and anyone, any veteran, that was worth a nickel was going to be. Here’s
Nestor Aparicio 25:34
where, like every, everybody, and this is because Elias is the one doing this, and he’s too conservative to your point, right to yearly conservative, but with Tyler. But if I said, what if they dealt cows or and, well, they’re not going to do that. See, this is where, but you’re screwed up because, like, but what do you want to get for you put that in that to get a picture. Okay? You put that in this. Okay, you put guys that. When I say their name, you’re like, they’re not going to do that. We’re not going to do that. We’re not going to deal that guy. He’s untouchable. Okay, well, but if you’re gonna get another F link kind of guy with a deal left, a year left, and
Luke Jones 26:08
whatever I need, way better than Zach effing if I’m trading Colin cows are fair enough. I mean, like, let’s be real. You’re
Nestor Aparicio 26:13
higher on him than I am, second
Luke Jones 26:16
in the league in Rookie of the Year, man. I mean, he’s got four years of club control. Rookie
Nestor Aparicio 26:19
of the Year is fine and all that. I just don’t think he’s a great player. I think he’s a, he’s a, okay, he’s he’s an okay.
Luke Jones 26:24
So we’re gonna let perfect be the enemy of good, I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 26:30
and I think you’ll be an average, I mean,
Luke Jones 26:32
I guess, I guess, my question is that, but like, Who are you dealing with that you’re making that deal? Why
Nestor Aparicio 26:38
are you not dealing an average major league baseball player, someone else coveted him. I’m not, I’m not even making the case for him. I’m just saying, if you want to get creative on who,
Luke Jones 26:46
but who’s trading for Colton cows, or is what I’m asking you, somebody that believes in him, somebody tender or a or another seller. So is this the Orioles being a seller, selling Colton cows? Or,
Nestor Aparicio 26:58
to your point, it may be more of a blend of something else that that was my point. I mean, my point is, if you’re not dealing into the pennant race, you could get more creative in saying I’m getting a number two starter for next year who has club control for a year or two. I have to give something up for that. I’m not giving gunner Henderson up. I’ll draw a line. But I’m saying the lines further down when your last place to be clear, I’m not, you’re talking about guys that are gonna strike
Luke Jones 27:23
out on I just, I just don’t think, I just don’t think there’s, I’d have to see what a deal looks like for Colton. You’re trading Colton cows are because I just don’t think that deal is gonna be out there. Okay? I mean, you know, I, you know, it’s somebody else’s Coby Mayo Heston cursed dad like a couple other small, you know, lower level prospects that they have, I don’t know,
Nestor Aparicio 27:42
but guys that have failed, guys that have half made it or made it enough to encounter hasn’t failed. I said, No, no, no, if all you’re gonna kill are guys who failed or who have diminished value to begin with, COVID Mayo is worth less today than he was a year ago, a top 20 prospect in baseball. Okay? Deal. Keith wall, just go get something. Fair enough. Fair enough. I don’t think that’s gonna we’re getting hung
Luke Jones 28:08
up with a specific example of Colton cows. Or look, Gunner Henderson and Jackson holiday are probably the only two guys I would not trade. But, and
Nestor Aparicio 28:18
I don’t know if I trade rushman right now to give him away, right? Wow, because, yeah, he’s gonna give
Luke Jones 28:21
you one. I just, that’s what I’m saying. And yes, I, I’ve, I’ve made the comment that they could be buyers and sellers,
Nestor Aparicio 28:28
but I’m looking at that blended way that you’re talking about, yeah, like, I’m not just gonna have a sell off. I just think it’s, I’m gonna have a swap off, yeah, I
Luke Jones 28:36
just think it’s, for me, it would be really interesting. Like, what would be? Who’s the team, who’s the pitcher? Why would they want Colton cowser, who, as you said, is a flawed player. And, you know, I’m not saying that he doesn’t have some words, although I think he’s still very good at what he does. Well, you know, I’m not sure if a team wants that with a guy who’s already two years into a major league career, and you have less club club control compared to some team giving you two top 50 prospects.
Nestor Aparicio 29:09
It’s my point. They need no question well and then go sign another Tyler, one for now. That’s why
Luke Jones 29:15
I’m not as quick as you are to trade Zach Eflin. My thought is I might look to try to sign Zach Eflin to a two year extension, like, because if you’re trading him and Sugano, then, okay, Brad, let’s say Bradish comes back in late August, 31 Eflin, yeah, he’s 3031 Yeah. Okay. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m like, not giving him a five or six year
Nestor Aparicio 29:39
deal or anything, but he gave him two years and 48 million. Does he take that? I
Luke Jones 29:42
mean, I think it all depends, you know. Does he like it here? You know, is he, I bet he doesn’t like last place, sure. But is he of the thought that this year, he still likes where they are in a big picture sense? And like, you know, this year is just, he didn’t choose to be here, either, sure. I mean, he was trading, he didn’t pick it. But, you know, so you. I think the next, I mean, I’m fascinated to see what’s going to happen. I’m not not fascinated in like, an enthusiastic way, necessarily, because the team stinks.
Nestor Aparicio 30:09
But as we break this segment down and end it and go to football, we’re going to wind up talking a whole lot more about this than we are how the bats shouldn’t awake against Jared scuba or turret school on Sure. Again, why? You know, you look at your Lorenzo,
Luke Jones 30:22
you look at these individual performances. You know, Jordan westburg hit a couple home runs. Great. You know, it’s good to see Colton cows are back. It’s good to see Gunnar Henderson starting to get some hits against left handed pitching, because that’s been such a disaster.
Nestor Aparicio 30:36
I would say it’s good to see Ryan mountcastle out of the way, and now we’re going to find out about COVID. And
Luke Jones 30:41
look, it might be ugly, or maybe he’ll start to figure it out after a while. You know, it’s, I say this somewhat flippantly. It feels like things can’t get much worse, right?
Nestor Aparicio 30:52
Oh, what they could Okay, could they though? You
Luke Jones 30:54
know what I mean? I mean, they’re
Nestor Aparicio 30:56
already trucks running the military stuff around
Luke Jones 30:58
there. There are a lot of ways to try to evaluate the rest of the season, but put aside the win loss record, I want to see these young guys start to get back on track and really start that the arrow is pointing up.
Nestor Aparicio 31:13
One way to do this play bad teams and beat them, hey. But you know what? I think a lot of it,
Luke Jones 31:18
and I’m pointing to my head right now. I think a lot of it’s between the ears for this team, this organization, at this point in time, because I still can’t fully explain it all. I don’t understand how go look at what they ranked against left handed pitching last year and the year before, compared to now, where it’s they look like they’ve never seen lefties before. That’s how bad they are.
Nestor Aparicio 31:39
I know how hard this has been for you to explain and to get the words out. In our next segment, I’m going to have you get the words out about how Lamar Jackson didn’t show up for wind sprints for $750,000 he’s Luke on Nestor. We’re down here, families. It’s all brought to you by friends at the Maryland lottery, a curio, wellness, liberty, pure. And I have the scratch offs from the Back to the Future, which I’m going to give away. Luke is here. He’s headed to the ballpark. We are wnst am 15 70,000 Baltimore, we never stop talking Baltimore positive from fatalities. You.
