Setting stage for Orioles’ trade deadline and wheels and deals

The Orioles will be sellers, not buyers, at the MLB Trade Deadline later in the month. Luke Jones and Nestor set the stage for what could be the final acts of the Mike Elias administration in Baltimore with very mixed results. You can only go up when you’re in last place (again)…

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent performance, noting their 12-12 record over the last 24 games and their 11 games under .500. They highlighted the inconsistency in starting pitching, with Charlie Morton and Dean Kremer as the most dependable starters. The conversation also covered potential trades, including Ryan O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins, and Colton Cowser, and the need for better pitching. They emphasized the importance of young players like Coby Mayo, Gunnar Henderson, and Adley Rutschman for future success. The discussion also touched on the Orioles’ leadership and the need for better injury management.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles trade deadline, Elias, pitching, Colton Cowser, Koby Mayo, Adley Rutschman, Ryan O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins, Felix Bautista, Dean Kremer, Charlie Morton, starting pitchers, minor league system, injury issues.

SPEAKERS

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Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. Don’t forget the Star Spangled Banner was written here, Francis Scott Key right down here Fort McHenry. So Happy Fourth of July to everybody out there celebrating. Come down to the heritage fair. Get some beer. We’ll listen to some music, and then on Tuesday, join us at deepest Qualis. I’ll be doing the breakfast act on Tuesday and can’t and I’ll have to the future scratch offs. I have a nice stack of these left. And then on Thursday, I’ll take whatever’s left over. We’ll take it out to Costa sentimonium. We’re gonna have a great, great show out there in the in the afternoon on Thursday. So this guy won’t be thinking about me on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday, because he’s on vacation. Next week, he’ll be eating Max pizza. I’ll be seeing him, and now niece is shoving pizza down there. I hope they are in the pepperoni the way you guys are. Luke Jones joins us here. Now the Orioles are in Texas, still trying to get hits off at the ground, I guess, and the all star voting for Ryan o’hearns, a good story. Obviously, Jackson holiday as well. And the parents trip to Dallas. You and I made the kids trip. I remember getting sit at the kids table there about a year and a half ago, up on the roof, but watching baseball from down to Dallas, at least they put a roof on it, right? At least it’s not like hot as Hades it used to be? Yeah, I

Luke Jones  01:21

suppose so. And watching the last two nights, it kind of sums up what the Orioles have been over the last month or so, right? We’ve talked about it, they’ve been better than they were. I mean, you can’t get much worse than what they were, seven and 23 from late April through about the third week of May. And you know, they had that stretch where they won nine of 11. For a minute. You’re thinking, okay, is this the start of this team playing way, way better and making a run and all that? Well, they’ve gone 12 and 12 since then, right? They’ve gone 500 over the last month or so. So that’s where I kind of laugh when I hear, you know, whether it’s the broadcast or anyone that’s just trying to be optimistic, because this season was supposed to be fun, right? I mean, even with some of the questions in the off season, we all thought this was going to be a winning baseball team at the very least. But they’ve kind of settled into this, win one, maybe win two, and then they lose the next two. Win one, lose one, right? You have a big win on Monday night. I mean, they scored seven runs in the in the 10th and 11th inning. I mean, that was a heck of an exciting ball game on Monday night. You know, Gunner Henderson with big hits, and Colton cowser hits a home run. They win, and then you go out the next night and look on paper, it’s Brandon young against Jacob deGrom, right? I mean, it’s about his reverse lock as it gets, and played out that way. Basically, they weren’t as bad as they were against the Grom the first time around in Baltimore last week. But

Nestor Aparicio  02:43

I wish I knew more about betting to say something smart, like, if I could put $1 on Jacob deGrom, did they give me $1.01 back? I mean, if they were, like, literally, it’s the Grom against the guy, a double A pitcher, like, what? What do you at home? What do you expect? Right? Yeah, and like

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Luke Jones  02:59

I said, I mean, at least, at least we weren’t talking about the Orioles being perfect games through seven innings. Yeah, you didn’t need to watch it. They were going to lose, right but, yeah, so, I mean, it just, it just speaks to where they are right now. I mean, look, there are 11 games under 500 I mean, they’ll have a chance for a series win with Sagano going to the hill. You’d really like to see him put forth a good effort. I mean, we’ve talked about it with their starting pitching that it’s amazing to think where they were the first month of the season. Who were the biggest culprits, Charlie Morton and Dean Kramer. And when you look at where they are the last few weeks, Morton and Kramer have been their most dependable starters, and throw Trevor Rogers in there for a couple starts, right? I mean, it’s still a small sample. And in contrast, you have Zach Eflin, who was awful for three starts, is now on the IL and Sagano, over his last four starts, just hasn’t looked like the same guy. So a month ago, we were at least saying, well, you should have a good chance if you want to move Eflin, if you want to move Sagano, you should have a chance to do that at the trade deadline. Well, Eflin, who knows at this point if he’s even movable, if he’s even going to be healthy by by the trade deadline,

Nestor Aparicio  04:09

his franchise has said very few things go right in the last year, right? I mean, it’s been terrible. It’s unbelievable just in trying to deal a couple of pitchers at the trading deadline, because everything else has gone wrong. That goes wrong too, including Mount castle. Just got guys that you know you might have been able to move at some point, move a bat or whatever, just all of its that’s why I said Batista. And you, you burn, you burn up at me. It’s like moving cows or everybody burs up at me. Well, you gotta trade somebody. Well, no, you don’t see that’s the wrong that’s the wrong mindset to have. You don’t just trade guys for the sake of doing it. No, if you’re gonna trade, you have to, you have to give something away, and that’s all I’m saying. If you’re going to make a trade and improve this team in some way, whatever that means. But I would have to have, regardless of healthy players, and they don’t have a whole lot of that going on right

Luke Jones  04:58

now. Well, but, but the difference. There is, you’re talking about guys that have club control beyond this year, right? I mean, even Ramon Laureano, who I was reminded I had kind of forgotten this, there’s they have a team option on him for next year. I mean, okay, if someone blows you away and you say, All right, this is the best Ramon laureanos look with the bat since his days in Oakland a few years back. Maybe we need to take full advantage of this if a team is going to blow us away with an offer. With an offer, not an expensive player to keep well, and that’s what I’m saying, right? And I mentioned a couple days ago, I brought up Ramona RIAs. You know, there’s another example of someone that might be a sneaky useful player for for a contender, but at the same time, is he still useful to you next year, right? So, so there’s a lot of that going on, but you just look at this team in its totality, and you just said it. I mean, so much has gone wrong. That’s their own fault over the last year, but they’ve also had a lot go against them in terms of just bad luck and just it’s, it really is a Murphy’s Law kind of deal for them.

Nestor Aparicio  05:58

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What’s going right? Yeah. I mean, holiday sort of emerged. Yeah, Lion O’Hearn been a good player, but, like lorianna was a great signing. Batista’s back, but that was bad news that he missed a year and a half. His arm fell off for a year and a half. So I don’t know how great I feel about so I mean, just in a general sense of everything that happened from the summer where Bradish was about to win a Cy Young gunner. Henderson was coming on. Ruchman was emerging. They had the number one minor league organization anywhere. Man, as we sit here at the All Star break, I am just scratching my head at all of it. It really is. It’s been an amazing kind of meltdown.

Luke Jones  06:39

It has been and like I said, Yes, I’ll fully acknowledge they’ve been better over the last month. But what does that look like? Nestor 12 and 12 over their last 24 games? I mean, they won nine of 11. Great. I mean, God bless. They won nine of 11. You can find most teams in baseball are going to have a stretch like that at some point. You know, maybe not the Rockies, but most teams even average to middling to below average, teams will have some stretch where they win nine of 11 or eight of 12, something along those lines, where they play representative good baseball for two weeks. And the Orioles did that. But the problem is that needed to be the springboard to them then playing, I don’t know, 16 and eight over their next 24 and instead it’s been 12 and 12. I mean, they’re 11 games under 500 going into this finale, which is exactly what they were on June 5, right? I mean, they’ve treaded water as far as where they stand in relation to being 500 for almost a month now that that’s not making anything up, that’s that’s making a very easy decision at the trade deadline for michaelias, not in terms of who are you trade, but in terms of looking to sell, and certainly not being in a mode where you’re a buyer for anything having

Nestor Aparicio  07:50

to do with just what do they have to sell? That’s what I keep saying. You know, that’s why I’m not being facetious about Batista or cows or any of the players. But like, you know, they don’t have much. I mean, they really don’t

Luke Jones  08:03

well, but see, we’re having a different conversation there. If you’re gonna look out here that if you want to sell off Felix Batista and Colton cows like, okay, then you’re just going into a rebuild. Then again, I guess, because

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Nestor Aparicio  08:15

what you’re getting for them, well, but

Luke Jones  08:19

again, I you, you still haven’t really given me a scenario where, okay, Batista, he’s a reliever, all right, I get it. He’s a really good reliever. At a couple years ago, before the injury, he was arguably the best in baseball. I’m

Nestor Aparicio  08:32

not looking to give anybody away. I’m looking to get but you’re looking to get pitching is what I’m looking to do. I’m looking to get something that looks like a starting pitcher if I have to play Laureano instead of cowser, and we’re all into cat like cows just going to the Hall of Fame. I mean, I I’m not. No one says that. I’m not anti him. I just don’t know why, because he’s healthy and everybody thinks great of him, and he’s a Hall of Famer, but, but who’s who’s your outfield going to be next year? Then I don’t know. I don’t

09:03

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Great. GM, well,

Nestor Aparicio  09:04

we gave Tyler O’Neill $20 million to play right field, so you better think about him. Well, I’m just saying, if you said loriano is under under contract, okay, but I’m just saying, I just you fix. I’m not even trying to be argumentative. I’m trying to find something they have of value to put in a trade. That’s not pasaio, because you can’t touch him, can’t touch Henderson, can’t touchman. Richmond’s not worth much. I mean, holiday westburg, we’re not touching those guys. I don’t you’re saying cows are untouchable. Great. They’re all untouchable. Said that. How do, how do we get pictures? But you give up to get pictures.

Luke Jones  09:43

I just think, if you’re doing it, then you’re, you’re depleting your core in the process. I mean, I just, I think you’re weakening yourself and that like to get what, okay, like, you think money’s gonna get pitching in the off season. I think it has to. I mean, I think it has to. I think that’s what, I think that’s the route you have to go. I think you have to, you have to dip your toes into the two to three year, maybe a four year deal, kind of market that they haven’t been willing to do. We’re going to see a guy on Wednesday night pitch against them, Nathan of Aldi, and he’s been available at a couple different points now, this this past winter, when he resigned with Texas, all indications where he wanted to stay there, right? I mean, he won a World Series there. He was their de facto ace. He stepped up and placed the Graham a couple years ago, but avaldi was the kind of pitcher that was available three winters ago when I thought, and clearly John Angelos was still owning, you know, the Angelo’s family was still owning the team at that point, and I’ll even acknowledge that as it pertains to Mike Elias and whatever they were doing, but I still think that’s where they have to go. I mean, I just, I do look Colton cows there’s not untouchable, but I still need to see what that deal looks like. Because I just, I don’t know where it matches up that you’re going to necessarily acquire someone that’s going to be the kind of pitcher that a team is looking to trade if then they want Colton cowser, who’s already a major leaguer, you know, like, typically, when teams trade those kind of pitchers, it’s for prospects down the road or something like that. So I just, I just wonder what the Fit would be, right?

Nestor Aparicio  11:11

What are Orioles deals at this point? What do you mean? What do you really think it’s dealt here at the end of the month, when there’s still eight games under 500 or worse, they’re going to Atlanta this weekend like this. They could be 15 under by the by the trading deadline, because they give up six, 810, runs every night

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Luke Jones  11:29

well, or they could just be 1011, 12 games under 500 which is where they’ve hovered over the last month, right? I mean, that’s been my point, but they have. Brian o’hern should be traded, right? He’s an expiring deal. He’s gonna be the most likely, the all star, D, H, you know, we’ll, we’ll find out what the final voting, and then we’ll reconvene and talk about that, one way or the other. I see you get

Nestor Aparicio  11:50

a relief pitcher from the Phillies for him, or, you know, whatever, right? That’s what’s going to happen. I mean, I,

Luke Jones  11:54

I mean relief, you know, again, I don’t know what it first of all, the Phillies need believers,

Nestor Aparicio  11:59

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no. But last year, they gave us all their I’m just saying we did last year. What are you gonna get? Well,

Luke Jones  12:04

but, but they’re in a different mode, you know? I mean, they’re looking for something different than what they were last year. Was buying for the present and okay, it just so happened that Soto had another year of Team control, and Dominguez had a club option that you could exercise. So

Nestor Aparicio  12:18

you’re looking for a double a starter. Maybe you’re looking for their next braddish

Luke Jones  12:24

kind of guy, yeah. I mean, he’s got to be far enough along, right? But, you know, double way, maybe someone that’s on the cusp of being promoted to trip away somewhere in that neighborhood, like, I don’t want to low, a guy that’s three years away, right? I mean, it’s got to be someone that maybe you would project a factor into midway through next year, right when you’re at a position where, inevitably, you’ll have a couple pitchers hurt, and you see,

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Nestor Aparicio  12:46

and I always wonder, does that just project to be Brandon young or chase McDermott or Cade povid? And if you get one of those guys for Ryan O’Hearn that can make 13 starts next year and pitch to a four, eight? I mean, I guess

Luke Jones  12:59

I well, and but this goes back to what we were talking about the other day. I mean, Dean Kramer over the last four years. You know what Dean Kramer is? He’s a league average starter, right? He’s not a number one, not a number two, really not a number three. But if he’s a number four or a number five starter, for you, even for teams that fancy themselves as contenders, mean he was their number three, number four starter two years ago, right? So, but that’s, that’s what he is, right? I mean, it’s not anything great. He goes through stretches where everyone wants to replace him, and then he goes through a stretch like what we’re seeing right now, where he’s had a sub three era for two months. But my point with that is, if the Orioles, you know, if you could just snap your fingers, if you had a clone of Dean Kramer that filled out the five spots in the rotation. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they’d be the best team in baseball or anything like that, but they’d be in way better shape than they’re in right now, right? So, so you know, we can’t discredit what that can mean for a team, especially seeing what it looks like around baseball year after year that you need, you need arms. You need multiple arms. You need guys that trip away that are more viable than Brandon young look, you know? I mean, Brandon young kind of is what he is. I, I just don’t think his stuff’s good enough, right? I mean, I, I don’t think it’s a case where like, Oh, like this guy, you know, goes out and walks six people or does anything that’s like, completely unprofessional. I just don’t think he’s good. I just don’t think his stuff’s good enough. You know, I don’t think he’s gonna be able to get hitters out consistently two or three times through an order, and maybe he settles into a relief spot at some point in the next year or two. But that’s kind of where you are right now because of all the injuries you’ve had, and even a case like Chase McDermott, who struggled, right? I mean, I’m wondering at some point, and some people have even projected him to to be a reliever, right? I mean, failed starters become relievers, right? I mean, that’s typically the process that we see with young guys. So look at Keegan Aiken, right? But to go back to answer your question, because you asked me what they have to move. I mean, O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins, you know your. Hoping that Cedric Mullins can get the bat going over the next three weeks. We know. I mean, said streaky, right? We’ve seen this. He was great over the first five weeks of the season. He’s scuffled since then. I mean, there’s no no

Nestor Aparicio  15:13

tool guy you want, though, great club, good, good man steals bases. I mean, on base put him in a pennant race. Maybe, you know at this point in his career that could really pop. He might hit 330 in September for you, if you put him into a situation where your outfielders hurt or you have a need, and that you know that speaks to assessing teams like the Cubs and the Padres and teams that think that they’re on it, in in it, and may have some pitcher a double A that could help you. But I keep thinking, this is not top shelf sales here. No, no, no. You know, saying like this is very, very if we’re looking forward to the trading deadline and we’re going to wind up top metal earners and all star before the weekend, I think this is we’re making a mountain out of a molehill. We’re sitting here spouting all about trade, trade, trade, unless you’re going to deal a Richmond or a cows, or if somebody really values them, and you get an opening day starter next year, because they’re an effling kind of thing, where they have two years left on a deal and the team’s not competitive again. There’s 30 teams in baseball. Many of them have lost a lot of their primary pitching. You know, it’s a lot of guys making $40 million you can’t deal for Corbin burns. Just go down the list of all of the guys Cole all those guys that they’ve been given a lot of money. They’re not dealable. They’re considered ace pitchers who were banged up and hurt, I don’t know. I mean, then the next thing is, why the Diamondbacks aren’t going to want to deal pitching when they they don’t have their ace either? So everybody, it’s like the Orioles two years ago. They lose Bradish. They lose means they lose wells all of a sudden they’re not dealing poverty or McDermott because they need them,

Luke Jones  17:00

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right, right. I almost think, and this is, you know, and obviously I’ve picked on you a little bit. We’ve gone back and forth with the Colton cows are thinking, and we’ve just used cowser as an example.

Nestor Aparicio  17:08

I’m only using him because he has value all the most of these guys, you’re getting nothing learn, great. You’re not going to get much for any of these guys. But I just,

Luke Jones  17:17

again, I don’t know where that deal aligns. If another team wants Colton cowser, that’s probably a pitcher there. That would demand him, you know, that would command him. It’s probably a guy they’re not willing to give up. I almost feel if you’re going to do a deal like that, that would involve one of their core guys that’s, you know, and cows are semi established at this point. I mean, he’s second in Rookie of the Year voting last year. He’s got an 800 ops round. I would call it attractive, an attractive young player. I almost think that’s the kind of deal that maybe you’d see over the winter, right? I mean, where, where? There’s a bigger pool of teams that are looking to move and change up their roster, things like that. But let’s, let’s, you know, let’s, because you asked me o’hern. Now I’m not going to say anything about him behind the plate. I think there are plenty of teams that look at Gary Sanchez’s bat and look, I think the Orioles, especially if you’re willing to pay down 1,000,005 of his salary, or something like that, you might be able to, you know, move him, and then that can open up, you know, a spot for busayo to arrive in the third week of August, right? So, you know, you have those two I’ve mentioned, Ramona RIAs. He’s got a year of control left, but he’s someone that could be a sneaky attractive piece for another team. Yeah, same with Laureano, in the sense that, again, do you want to sell high on Laureano, knowing what his last couple years had been, and is he going to really duplicate this, right? So? And he has a team option attached to him that could be

Nestor Aparicio  18:45

attracted. And those guys you’ve mentioned, you’re giving me grown ups and big league players different, different than mayo and her stat. And these guys that the Orioles are counting on, including cows are they’re counting on, like, sure, you know, established guys are different and more than established, which would be westburg and Henderson, they become completely untouchable. So again, I think we’re dealing from not the top shelf. Here, we’re dealing from the middle to the lower shelf in thinking you’re going to find another Suarez to give you innings or find another, something that pops like Rhino Ernst popped, right? I mean, Rhino hears something out of nothing,

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Luke Jones  19:30

sure. No, no question about it. And I think, I think the blueprint is you kind of look at what the Orioles got for Trey Mancini. And let me be clear, I’m not saying that you’re doing cartwheels over what that return was. But how about the Jorge Lopez deal? You know, they they got Cade Povich out of that deal, which, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying Cade Povich is this established, legitimate, Major League starter, but Jorge Lopez, he’s been dfad multiple times, like he’s on his way out. Of baseball at this point in time that and they got yen your Cano in that deal as well. So I think that’s what you’re looking at, right? You’re looking at something like that, where you can get some complimentary pieces, you can restock trip away of your farm system, right? And out of the I don’t know, let’s say they make three deals, right? And maybe a couple of those deals, they have a reliever paired with one of the position players that I just mentioned. You know, maybe you get seven guys, and if two or three of them end up being useful to you over the next couple years, then I think that’s absolutely worth

Nestor Aparicio  20:34

it, right? Well, there’s your Trevor Rogers deal, right there, sure. So Trevor Rogers has made two good starts in a meaningless year, right? I mean, like, but he’s on the hill and right now, for now, upward for now, he’s in the rotation next opening day. For now, you hope

Luke Jones  20:50

so, right? I mean, and more so, not even because of the performance, the stuff looks better, right? They’ve made some adjustments with him for as much as we’ve crushed their either, you know, their player development in terms of guys getting a trip away and then not being ready to perform at the major league level, or whether we talk about what they’ve done from a pitching standpoint. I mean, again, I was right there listening to him after his big start that he had on the last home stand. He flat out talked about the adjustments the Orioles made with his mechanics, and, you know, keeping his front side a little more closed, and the fact that he was able to get more velocity on his fastball, his stuff was crisper, all of that. So it’s not as though, and this is where I’ve always struggled with, you know, the conversation we’ve had about Mike Elias in this organization over the last, you know, not year, but let’s say the last few months, they’re not completely incompetent, despite what what unhappy fans and justifiably unhappy fans would say right now, but there does need to be a recognition of like, what is going on, what is the disconnect with some of this? You know, I, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this in passing. I mean, Jorge Mateo was on, was on a triple A rehab assignment, he heard his hamstring and he’s going to be out two months now. Arm injuries happen everywhere. Okay, I want to be very clear about that. I’m not picking on the Orioles for the state of the health of their pitching right now, because you can do the same with the Dodgers and any number of other teams right now, including very good teams around baseball, but the number of soft tissue injuries that they’ve had at the major league level and even in the minors, with guys like Enrique Bradfield, I want to know, like, what’s going on with your strength and conditioning program? Right? I mean, there’s there’s something else, like, there’s bad injury luck, and then there’s guys constantly hurting their hamstrings and having setbacks and things of that nature, where you’re saying, like, this shouldn’t be happening. We’re not talking about 36 year old has beens that are just their bodies breaking down. This is happening to the 20 somethings on your roster, right? Guys that should be you would hope, in peak physical condition. And I get it. You’re not not saying you’re never going to have injuries, but I think you need to be as an organization, self critical as far as, like, Hey, what is going on? Like, okay, Brian evil left in the off season. I’m not saying that that that’s the end all be all for why this is happening. But like, Okay, what is going on with your trainers? What is going on with your strength and conditioning? What are you doing for these guys to make sure they’re not pulling muscles? And what we’re seeing. So you know, that’s just something else to add to the list and and let me be clear, maybe it is just a truly incredible run of bad luck. Maybe that is the case, but boy, you need to be very introspective in terms of really looking at that critically and saying, Is there something that’s missing here? Did we change something? Did we omit something? Did we do we need to add something to our program, because we shouldn’t be having this many, not just hamstring injuries, but guys are missing multiple months. I mean, Mount Castle is going to be back in maybe early August, right? So, you know, but westburg missed more than a month. Be

Nestor Aparicio  23:58

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careful with these trades too. I mean, we talked about rev Trevor Rogers right now Kyle Stowers is he’s gonna hit 30 home runs and drive in 90 runs. He’s hitting 283, he is, Ops is almost 900 I mean, slugging over five. I mean, like, you know, they gave him 150 at bats here over three years, and waltz them out. And he’s a big league player. He’s he’s a big league player, and you couldn’t get that out of him, that shame on them, not that they gave him away, and he’s turned into a big league player. And you got a pitcher shame on you that he’s not in the outfield right now, when you went and signed Laureano and gave all this money to to O’Neill, and those are the numbers you want for O’Neill, 14 home runs to 83

Luke Jones  24:47

at the All Star break. Yeah. And obviously O’Neill was signed more so with the idea of being a right handed bat against left handed pitching. But yeah, and, but this is also part of the problem of I’ve said this to you at various times with this organization even going. Going back two or three years ago, when things, you know, really started turning the corner. And you’re talking about a team that was then a contender, that it was tough. They had the old guard, right? The Santander is the Austin Hayes, you know, obviously Mullins is the last one left. But there was a perfect example. They had those three established guys in the outfield, and then you had Kyle Stowers, right? And, you know, he was up and he’d play, you know, when he was, when he was on the roster, plate two times a week. You know, maybe three times a week.

Nestor Aparicio  25:30

You also have male castle and O’Hearn right clogging up first base, the sort of the right field thing that maybe they could play.

Luke Jones  25:37

And I understand, I understand their plight in in terms of thinking about this, in terms of, you have these good, established Major League you know, and I’m just going to stick with the outfield, because you mentioned Stowers, you know, you have those guys. And it’s like, well, you’re content you’re contending right now. Do you really want to part with any of these guys right now? But then the problem is that completely created a log jam for Kyle Stowers to to never do what, frankly, what Kobe Mayo is doing right now, even though I still think Kobe Mayo should be playing more than than he is, but the idea is, there’s a runway for him, right? Mount Castle’s out until August. Yes, o’hern will play some first base as well. And you DH Mayo some, but you’re giving him an opportunity to work it out right? Kyle Stowers looked pretty in over his head for his stints in Baltimore. Colton cowser was completely in over his head two years ago when they called him up in July. You know, Mayo looked awful last last August when they called him up. Mayo at this point, and I’m not saying he’s there yet. He still has a ways to go, but I think anyone who’s watching mayo on a regular basis now, you are seeing better at bats. He’s not striking out nearly as much. He’s working more counts. You know the power. I think you’re waiting for that to come. But he’s looked like he’s trending in a good direction. Now, one of

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Nestor Aparicio  26:56

the problems is when Gary Sanchez hits a home run in a meaningless game, Jim Palmer’s yelling, he’s got to play tomorrow. Yeah. Well, where’s he going to play that’s going to take it bats away from Mayo, right like, and literally. So at some point they get squeezed out the side door. And then there’s the whole righty lefty thing of, Hey dude, right handers pitching, you can’t play tonight. We got to have the left handed lineup, so

Luke Jones  27:17

which has been something they’ve been so rigid with the last few years. I mean, I’ve said to you, you know, they, they don’t seem to really buy into reverse slips splits. And I get it, that’s statistically noisy year to year. Sometimes you have a right handed pitcher who is great against lefties one year and then the next year lefties crush them and vice versa, right? I mean, you’ll, you’ll have some of that. So, so, so, from a, you know, from a organizational, philosophical standpoint, I get that to a degree, but it feels like at times, it’s so rigid that it’s been detrimental then, to developing some of these guys. I mean, Jackson holiday, he didn’t play against lefties, really at all last year. And I get it, you know. I mean, he struggled big time. So I think that was their way of trying to protect him. He wasn’t playing against lefties earlier this year. Go look at his splits. He’s been just as good against lefties as he’s been against righties. So I feel like, on paper, they have this idea in their mind of, like, this progression. When guys get to the majors, it’s like, All right, we call them up, you know, they’re going to sit somewhere first, you know, at first, and they’re going to kind of look for a few days, fine, okay, but at the same time, if these are guys that you’ve been, you know, you’ve been championing the these guys and their arrival and how good this farm system is, it’s just, it’s been odd how they’ve handled some of these prospects when they get to the Major Leagues. And look, I’m not saying a guy needs to be on scholarship, like, if, if Kobe mayo, like everything I just said about him, if he were three for his last 40 with with 28 strikeouts, that’s a different story. But he’s handling himself Okay, right? I mean, the defense at first base is a work in progress, but I think he’s a good athlete. I think he’s someone who can make himself into at least an average, solid first baseman. And you know, the the bats have looked better. He’s gotten some big hits here and there again. He still has a ways to go. I’m not going to sit here and say that his numbers are great, but they’ve been good enough to want to continue to play him. And then that’s where I think you look at the trade deadline, and I use Gary Sanchez as an example, and it’s kind of tough to bring it up, because look how many catchers they have on the Il. I mean, Hanley still on the Il. Obviously, rutchman is on the Il. That’s the biggest one by far, but Handley is on the Il. Chadwick Trump just went on the Il. Jacob Stallings, who they just signed to a minor league deal. They just promoted him Now, fortunately, he’s a guy who actually has extensive Major League experience. He was in Pittsburgh for years, but, you know, it speaks to again, going back to the injuries and how they’ve just been hammered at these spots. But I think part of this trade deadline for me is, yes, tempering expectations and understanding that, yeah, I think you can build some, you know, a couple needs. For the next couple of years, some depth for the next couple of years. But I think some of that is also clear the deck a little bit, right? I mean, you trade Gary Sanchez. Adley rutschman will be back, you know, by then, presumably, because it sounds like he’ll be back shortly after the all star break. You trade Sanchez at the deadline, and again, you might need to throw in 1,000,000.5 or something like that. So what you’re saying

Nestor Aparicio  30:20

is Sanchez is gone. O’Hearn is gone, right? Mullins is gone. Who else is gone? Because and then we’re going to make the new lineup beginning August 1 for this spring training for next year, literally, is all it is. And we’re going to have all the baby birds, and we’re going to try to have them go 25 and 17 over the end of the year with lousy pitching, because McDermott’s not going to be you’d like to think Bradish could make some starts, or whoever those guys would be. You’d like to see Rogers on time every fifth day, taking the ball and going eight and four with a three nine toward the end of the year to feel good about yourself, like I’m trying to paint this so I got as Where do you feel better about this on October 2 than you do on July 2?

Luke Jones  31:11

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Well, I’ll go back to what I said from the moment, or actually before they fired Brandon Hyde. I mean, it’s getting these young guys trending in the right direction, like what I’m seeing from Kobe Mayo right now in terms of him looking better, and it’s been gradual, right? I’m not sitting here saying that I’m going to guarantee he gets 35 home runs next year. I’m not, but that’s something that I’m encouraged by. How Kobe Mayo has played with more extensive playing time, the idea that cows are back and healthy, right? And he and he has a 500 slug right now, they need to get Westport back, right? I mean, his finger issue is, you know, I mean, it’s gonna if he doesn’t play in the finale. I mean, you’re talking about him missing five games again. It’s like, why didn’t you just put him on the Il? You know, that’s something else that I kind of wonder about the roster management. Sometimes they play shorthanded for days at a time before they put someone on the Il. But, you know gunner Henderson Hit, hit the the home run on Monday night in extra innings, awful lefty, right? I mean, complaints I’ve heard about gunner is he hasn’t been good enough against left handed pitching this year, and he hasn’t been great in late and close situations. I would agree with that. That’s why that was a big moment for him, right? They’re also not going to take it bats away from him, sure, sure, but, but my point with that is, you know, are there a few things here and there that I do like what I’m seeing? Sure? Is it enough? No, of course not they. But going through the rest of the year, and you asked me who else might be, I’ll throw another name out there that, you know we’re going to see because he’s dealing with a little bit of elbow tendonitis, that it sounds like he’s going to pitch in Atlanta this weekend, but I don’t know. Charlie Morton might be someone that you can trade and get something okay for. I’m not not talking to top 100 prospect, but go look at his number. Since mid May, he’s pitched really, really well since then, if you’re well, he’d rather be doing an independent race at his age than with these stiffs. But my point with that, just like Gary Sanchez, especially if you’re willing to throw in a little bit of cash, you might better get a decent, you know, not an a prospect, but someone that has some projectable upside, right? I mean, because some team says, hey, you know what Charlie Morton would look really good as our number five starter right now, or because he’s done this in the past in his career, he might be a swing man in the bullpen that we love throwing out there in October. And just say, Charlie, you’re going to throw 30 pitches, throw your curve balls 26 times, which is basically what he did for the Astros way back when. Oh,

Nestor Aparicio  33:37

there’d be nothing like having him come out of the bullpen in game three of a playoff game in the fourth inning. And feel like he could give you three innings,

Luke Jones  33:44

right, if he continues to pitch the way he has, but, but even with him now, it’s like all right elbow tendonitis. Hopefully this is something very minor. I mean, obviously he’s 41 he’s going to pitch through whatever minor ailment he has. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  33:56

I don’t need to tell you the value of October innings. I mean, especially if you think you’re pitching, especially someone who’s done it, you know you’re gonna play in October. You know you’re gonna play in October. I mean, that’s something where the Yankees or the Dodgers would take another guy like him on. Yeah, no problem. Because, like, they, you know, they, they’d rather have a guy,

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Luke Jones  34:13

yeah. And then, you know, I think you look at the rest of the bullpen, okay, we’ve talked about Batista. It would take a heck of a lot, a heck of a lot, for a team to offer the Orioles, for them to part with the Batista i and I’m fine with that, right? I mean, you’re not talking about someone who’s on an expiring deal, so you should be picky. But like Sir Anthony Dominguez, go look at it, what his numbers have looked like over the last several weeks. I mean, especially, he’s added that split to his repertoire. Again, none of these deals, and I’ve never said this. This isn’t about, suddenly, the Orioles restocking their farm system that they have the best farm system in baseball. Again, no, this is about clearing the deck a little bit. You can clear some salary off the books, which is not my motivation, but that’s a byproduct of this. And you can see. If out of you know, again, if you make four or five trades, the I don’t know, 12 players you get in those four or five trades, if a handful of those guys becoming any or canal or Sure, I mean, that’s not putting you over the top, but if you’re rebounding the way that I think everyone hopes they will next year, right? I mean, I hope we’re not talking about this being a multi year thing again. I mean, I’d have

Nestor Aparicio  35:27

to see a lot for their pitching to believe in them. I mean, a lot in the second half here for Henderson to wake up, Richmond, to come to life, westburg, to get healthy, Mayo to blossom holiday. I’m not worried about I’m just not worried about him. I’m not worried about westburg, if he’s healthy. I like Westbrook a lot. I do wonder where the ceiling is for cows or and I’m also wondering with Anderson whether he’s a superstar or not, whether he’s just a real nice player and hitting, left handed pitching, and also just his glove. You just as an all around player. You know, I thought he was going to be a one and a shortstop. For my stratomatic terms, he’s more of a three and he’s more of a liability at shortstop defensively at this point, then he is a definite shortstop. The he doesn’t look like Machado. Let me put it to you that way, because I pissed all over Machado for a long, long time. Machado was had a hell of a I

Luke Jones  36:21

thought it was a third baseman, though, right? I mean, we even had that discussion when he would play, when he would fill in for JJ Hardy. There was even debate at that point where it’s like Manny feels like Manny’s an okay shortstop, but he’s this, you know, dare I say Brooks Robinson, s kind of third baseman. And he’s not not Brooks, but he’s certainly

Nestor Aparicio  36:42

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Machado and harder. You’re better fielders than gunner Henderson,

Luke Jones  36:45

and that’s fine. And look, let me also be clear, go look at gunners number since the beginning of May, he’s batting 299, and he has an 850 ops. Now, is that the MVP guy that he was in the first half of last year? No, but I think I understand what you’re saying about gunner, and I agree to a point, but I think his season isn’t as mediocre as maybe you’re portraying it to be. Well, I

Nestor Aparicio  37:10

think he could go a long way in August and September to start the rake in a situation where they get the lineup. I mean, really, again, it’s preseason for next year, once we hit August 1. I mean, I mean, really, we’re at the end of the Orioles season right now, the next three weeks, and thinking about it as this year. Yeah,

Luke Jones  37:26

and really, for gunner. I mean, the key for him, if you’re talking about it offensively, his if you look at him, over the last month, he swung the bat way better against left handed pitching than he had been. So that’s trending upward. I mean, really, the last piece for gunner at this point, and I hear what you’re saying about defense, but the last piece for him is, you know, the home run power hasn’t been there as much so. But again, he swung the bat much better. I feel way better about gunner Nestor, best player. I’m not pissing on him. Oh no, and I understand. But General, because I’ve shared similar sentiments to what you just said, I feel way better about gunner over the last six weeks than I did, you know, six weeks ago, like I feel better now than I did six weeks ago, as far as how he’s well, especially when you see rutchman fall off the Earth, yeah. I mean, just availability, just not being there and, you know, Rush been unfortunately. I mean, June was the best he’d looked in a calendar year. Was was on his way to having his best, best month since last June, and he gets hurt. So Fred

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Nestor Aparicio  38:27

Lynn on last week, go look at his life and his stats and where he was and what he became, at least he had six years of what gunner Henderson supposed to be, which is this crazy good player. I I’m wondering all of the names we’ve thrown out holiday, rutchman had all of the cows or westburg, all of this mayo, throw him in, all of the superstar guys. Out of all of them, Kyle Stowers is having the best year of all of them, from where we thought he was going to be and of this lot of players, and he’s doing it in a blimp for nobody down in Miami. Get a chance to see him next week too. But I just think of where all of them are and where the bobby wits and where the real elite players are going to be. You better have one of them. I think Henderson’s that guy. We thought Richmond was that guy. Holiday could be that guy. Could be that guy. I mean, I don’t know about elite, but I think he can be, put it this way, he could be Anthony Santander. He can hit 30 home runs. Kobe Mayo

Luke Jones  39:27

could be what Ryan mountcastle couldn’t sustain, right? I mean, go, look at what Ryan mountcastle did in 2021 and I think the perception was, oh my gosh, this guy’s going to be a monster for the next five years. And really just his power declined. And I know a lot of people wanted to talk about the left field wall at Camden Yards, and do I think that impacted him a little bit, but he didn’t hit for power on the road either, right? So I think Mayo can be that, plus, will he though, and this you just touched on it. I’m glad you did, because I was having a conversation. With another media member during the last homestand, because everyone the way this season has gone, there’s something for everyone, right? You can gravitate to Mike Elias, Brandon Hyde’s already gone. You could talk about the coaching staff. You could talk about their too much, too much reliance on analytics. You could talk about the inexperience of the coaching staff collectively. You could talk about the off season and the pitching. You can talk about the injuries, of course. You can talk about the defense being poor. You could talk about the base running being you can talk about the offense underperforming, even though I would, you know, I made mention how they played over the last month. Go look at their numbers. Since about the third week of May, offensively, they’ve trended up big time. But the problem is the starting pitching fell off again after they were good for two weeks, right? I mean, that’s just the way it’s been. But there’s something for everyone. But the scariest proposition of all these Nestor is that maybe the young core isn’t as good as we thought, and that is a very sobering possibility. I’m not saying that that’s the truth,

Nestor Aparicio  41:02

but that’s why Richmond doesn’t rebound. You better hope Mayo hits you, better hope holiday hits you. Better hope that westburg becomes what I think he can be, or cows or becomes what all of you think he can be. And I just, yeah, I don’t know, and that’s what August and September become a new season for me when Mayo’s batting, you know, five at bats a day, six days a week, instead of, hey, put Sanchez out there, put Laureano out there. Let’s, I mean, Dylan Carlson had an at bat the other night. On Tuesday night, he had a one pitch at bat when was who was on for Mullen, somebody fast was on first and he wound up trying to steal in the next at bat. I think holiday was batting, and they were fouling pitches off. And I’m like, it was a one run game. I think it was a three two game, and then that got away. But it was a one run game at the time. And I’m thinking, you guys are losers, man. I mean, first pitch swinging. You want to take the base. You have a fast guy on. At least make him draw a throw, at least take a pitch. Do do something to create action in the game when you’re losing down in Texas, and instead you’re popping out on a first pitch. At bat, the runner stays on first now we got an out, and now you’re trying to run him with two just all of it, I don’t I have manzalino does not inspire any leadership for me at any of this, and neither does Elias at this point. Elias still looks like the coward running from high firing hide. He looks like he wants no part of any of this and the failed trades and the Flaherty signings and the Phillies bullpen deal last year and the Trevor Rogers deal for where they were last year. That’s the undoing of Elias

Luke Jones  42:49

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for me. Okay. I mean, do you do you want him gone after this year? Yes, okay, just wondering. I

Nestor Aparicio  42:56

wanted him gone after three days of sitting waiting for him to face up to the fact that he fired the manager to make the manager the sacrificial lamb in a time when things were bad, he hid leaders. Don’t hide. Leaders don’t hide at the time too. I mean, he’s a fraud. He’s a fraud. I mean, he’s a fraud. I mean, he’s not a man of like leadership, by the way. Katie Griggs, oh, my God. I mean, we’re a year into this, and she’s hiding. She sat in the dugout last September. She had her Birdland menu, and now nobody can find money bags. Where’s Cal Ripken, other than making commercials a given like, where’s the leadership for the organization who’s in front of this? That Greg Bader, who’s in front of this nobody, and for that, they stink. And I think they’re gonna, right now, if you give me $1 and I go up the Hollywood casino, I’d bet on them stinking. I would not bet on them rebounding and winning 101 games next year. I just wouldn’t. I mean, unless money bags comes in and has his feelings really hurt and just starts throwing money around the way kind of, sort of, I don’t say you want them to, like, you’re going to go buy pitching. They’re going into a different kind by real pitching, not by Kyle Gibson and Charlie Morton and and Sugano, by pitching the way you think they need to buy, the way everybody else buys pitching, like drunken sailors, like, literally, if they need to do that.

Luke Jones  44:20

I mean, it’s, it’s, no, it’s not like drunken sailors, because, I mean, those are the big deals you’ve got to play, that you’ve got to, gotta get pitching somehow, right? I mean, yeah, draft it. You know, in fairness, have they found some Albert Suarez is of the world like Danny coulomb, even though, I mean, still, maybe the worst decision of the off season, even though it was so relative, was CNL Perez over Danny cool long. First of all, you didn’t have to choose one or the other, but I mean CNL Perez is a triple A now, right? I mean, I mean so, but you know, they, they, they have to be more of a player for pitching on the open market. And again, I. Am not the guy that wants to see them sign eight year two, $50 million deals, right? You don’t have to do that, but it’s got to be more than one year, right? It’s got to be more than just band aids, which, which is what they’ve done. I mean, there are, there are always some pitchers that are kind of in that middle class and, and guess what? I’m not saying that all those will work. You might have one that doesn’t work out, but

Nestor Aparicio  45:24

things work a lot different when you have Corbin burns in front of the rotation, or it does functioning the way it does, but, but you

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Luke Jones  45:30

need more than that. I mean, they’re pitching with okay, you know what? If they signed Corbin burns, their pitching would still be a disaster, right? Even if he hadn’t gotten hurt, would Corbin burns have been enough to lift up this rotation? No, he pitches once every five days, right? They needed more than that. And part of the problem is they got hurt, right? I mean, so you’re going to have some of that. The Dodgers are dealing with that, right? I mean, the Dodgers are in a position where they’ve actually been relying on Clayton Kershaw, like needing him to, to actually be the old Clayton Kershaw, the like Ohtani, back, throwing, pitching, you know. And look, that’s the Dodgers who spend more money than anyone, right, other than win more than anyone, too. Oh, sure, yeah. But, well, they’re a well run organization. They it’s not just that they spend. They also have a really good farm system too, right? I mean, that’s why, I mean, they’re the model for what anyone would like to be, you know, in a perfect world, but, but, yeah. And let me be clear, even if I want to be more optimistic about next year, yeah, the idea that you’re going to project them to be 101 wins? No. I mean, that’s not, I mean, I didn’t think they were going to do that last year, right? I mean, I going into 2024 I didn’t expect them to duplicate 101

Nestor Aparicio  46:37

wins. You expected them to hit the cover off the ball and play defense, and all of these young guys to be, yeah, I mean, plus players,

Luke Jones  46:44

yeah, well, and look all of them that that’s, that’s a tall order, right? I mean, we know there’s no such thing as a can’t miss prospect, but the group that they have, you need most of them to make it, and that range might be gunner Henderson at the top as an MVP candidate, maybe Jackson holiday as a fringe MVP candidate at a couple points in his career, I don’t know. I mean, again, he’s 21 who knows? But you can’t

Nestor Aparicio  47:09

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have Stowers making it in Miami. You know, that’s part of the problem. And and, you know, cows are failing here, or curse that failing ear, or Mayo failing ear.

Luke Jones  47:19

That’s, that’s problematic. I mean, maybe one of those guys can fail, right? I mean, but the other two better make it right. And and that lead needs to at least be legitimate, valuable everyday player, right? I mean, I’m not saying, I’ve never said that Colton cows are going to be an MVP or anything crazy like that, but I think he’s a valuable player. I think his profile, for one, I think Colton cows are, there’s a pretty decent chance he’s going to be their starting center fielder next year, and I think he can, if he is playing that every day. Now, the health piece, he has to stay healthy, you know, he can’t go diving into a first base bag and break his thumb again. But I think he has the ability that he can play okay. I think he can be solid there, because I would also say Cedric Mullins isn’t the defender that he was four years ago, right? I mean, he’s still good, but is he that elite Gold Glove, caliber center fielder? No. I mean, he’s he’s gotten older, and I think even some of the range metrics

Nestor Aparicio  48:12

would suggest, oh no, let’s get a lineup next year. Just seriously now, the Rutgers gonna catch. Mayo’s gonna play first, Holland is gonna play second, gunner is gonna play short. Westburg is gonna play third. Cal’s just gonna play center. Maybe O’Neill’s gonna play right because they, yeah, they give him a lot of money right

Luke Jones  48:28

left field. Maybe Laureano, I think, you know, do you go out and get another outfielder that kind of fits somewhere in? Okay, Laureano and O’Neill, and again, they might trade Laureano, I mean, or maybe O’Neill, maybe the idea is he’s not an outfielder anymore. We’re going to d h him, because we think that might be the best way to keep him healthy and maybe the best way to get 30 home runs out of hit, 30 home runs, right? And don’t get me wrong, that’s not ideal for someone that’s making the money that he’s making, but you it’s better than him not being on the field at all. Right? You won’t have a heard around anymore. Well, yeah, I mean, you know, maybe you try to resign Oh Hearn in the off season. I don’t know. I mean, there’s also that possibility, right? But put it this way, there’s probably a bat or two that needs to be added. Now, that doesn’t mean that it’s 100 million dollar contract guys. I mean, we saw with Laureano that for all their moves that we have killed this off season. Laureano was a brilliant signing, right? I mean, the way he’s played, I mean, he’s been one of their two or three best players this year. I mean, that’s how good he’s been, and that was, what, $4 million with a team option. That’s why, and

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Nestor Aparicio  49:35

I’ve shown this many times, his his output has been better than cows ers, which is why I look at the cows are thing. And I say you replace that for 4 million bucks, and you got a mediocre outfielder, you know? You got a you got a 250 hitting guide, strikes out a lot. It’s gonna hit 20 home runs or whatever. That to me, that’s time a dozen. And that’s not something I’m paying $20 million for. In the case of Tyler O’Neill, you know?

Luke Jones  49:58

Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. Yeah, but so you know, there’s a lot that’s going to happen here over the next couple of months, and it’s not necessarily even my fascination isn’t necessarily with what the win loss record is. But that said, and I think I said this to you, when we were talking with Alan McCallum last week, as we were doing our state of the franchise, if you get these young guys playing better, I think you’ll see the results in the win loss column show up a little bit more any anyway, even acknowledging they’re going to make some trades here, right? I mean, they’re, are they going to trade every single guy that we’re talking about? Generally speaking, it doesn’t work out that way, right? Typically, you talk about 10 different guys you might trade, and maybe they trade five of them, right, you know? And again, I just throw out an arbitrary number there, so we’re going to see how it plays out. But yeah, the rest of this year is about getting those guys and, oh, we’d be totally remiss, because you asked me about next year. You’re hoping Samuel bisayo is going to fit into that because, and that might be that he’s the DH, when rutschman catches and vice versa, maybe he plays a little bit of first base. He, you know, he’s certainly, you know that they’re really working on him to develop him as a catcher. I I think the bad is very close to being like, Dude, there’s nothing else you can do a trip away. But they’re really trying to develop him as a catcher as much as they can. I’m okay with that for now, but I certainly would like to see him over the last, I don’t know, six weeks of the season, to kind of take his lump, so to speak, and get acclimated and hope that he can hit the ground running next

Nestor Aparicio  51:34

you better hit better to 27 you know, which is where Richmond is right now. Sure.

Luke Jones  51:38

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Well, and I will say this, he the power upside. I mean, we gotta see we gotta see it at the major league level. But everyone who sees him at triple A, they love the bat. I mean, they absolutely love the bat. You know, the question is, a little more, he’s got a good arm as a catcher. Like it. They’re tools. But the question is, okay, is he going to continue to develop as a catcher, or does he kind of become a d h first baseman? Again, I saw, you know, a minor leagues. This wasn’t an Orioles person. It was just a minor leagues, you know, baseball America, whatever it was, I saw someone say that this guy has a chance to maybe be the Orioles version of your Don Alvarez eventually, which, my goodness, if you’re talking about that kind of bat. I mean, you’ll take that whether he ends up being a D, H or a catcher or whatever, but so, so we’re going to see how it plays out. I mean, there’s, there’s still plenty of interest in terms of the big picture and what’s going to happen on that front, but on a night by night basis, yeah. I mean, again, they’ve been treading water at 500 over for the better part of a month now, and you know, in terms of when they first had their little run where it looked like, okay, maybe they’re playing better, they’ve settled into being a middling team since then. So that’s not going to do anything in terms of wins and losses in the wild card standings, but you’re hoping that some of these young guys, you know, continue to hopefully trend in a positive direction. And you know, the case of Westbrook, stay on the field right. In the case of cows are stay on the field. In the case of mayo, continue to look more and more comfortable. Look like you belong. Look like, you know, start hitting a few more out of the ballpark. You know, if you get those things that to happen over these last couple months, there’s at least some semblance of a silver lining for what’s been a miserable season, going into the off season in 2026

Nestor Aparicio  53:27

Luke and I’ll be back after before he goes blows away to Wildwood to eat pizza and lay on the beach with his family. Happy Fourth of July to everybody out there. I’m going to be over at the Heritage fair this weekend. We got great stuff at Baltimore positive put a bunch of stuff up. I put a tribute to rob Roblin up, who we lost this week, who I was trying to get on the show at various points, because I loved Rob So my thoughts to everybody out there, celebrating his life and mourning his passing. It’s been a bit of strange little Fourth of July around here, especially with all the thunderstorms and all that going on. So hopefully we get some good weather. Hope we get some beach time. It is summertime around here, I’m going to be back after it. On next Tuesday, we’re going to be at deepest Qualis in the morning and Canton giving away the Back to the Future scratch offs. And then on the 10th we’re going to go back to the future at Costas and Timonium at the racetrack. And we’ll be there on Thursday afternoon. Johnny O is going to be joining us that day also, Steve Rouse, former WSR morning show host, who’s you know? I’ll let him host the show. I’m a better guest than a host anyway, so I’ll get Steve rouse out next week. So big week. Dan Rogers is coming on Tuesday. Joe Giordano Pete cringes come over to talk some soccer on Tuesday at Highland town soccer. Probably gonna eat some sausage with peppers before breakfast, which I like a lot if you know, if Rodricks has his way, it’s going to be like eggs and peppers and onions or so. I don’t know. We’re going to eat a lot of food, which is perfect after the fourth of July holiday. Luke is watching baseball. I’m watching baseball. The Orioles are taking on the Braves this weekend. You can find out more about all that we do at Baltimore positive stay with us. You.