The MLB trade deadline beckons, last place in the American League East feels pretty concrete in July for the Baltimore Orioles and many of their organization questions dangle waiting to be addressed by Mike Elias this offseason. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the trade options and philosophy of the beleaguered Birdland insiders as local fans to turn to the purple birds and football season.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Orioles’ trade options and the philosophy of General Manager Mike Elias. They highlighted the struggles of players like Charlie Morton and Cedric Mullins, questioning their trade value. They also discussed the potential deals for players like Ryan O’Hearn and Dean Kramer. The conversation touched on the Orioles’ young core, including Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez, and their injury issues. They debated the team’s future prospects, ticket sales, and the impact of player development and coaching on the team’s performance.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Orioles, trade deadline, Mike Elias, pitching staff, player development, injuries, strength and conditioning, Ryan O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins, Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez, ticket sales, young core, rebuild, management.
SPEAKERS
8
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are, W, N, S, T. Am 1570 task of Baltimore. We are, Baltimore positive, positively, bringing it at you for summertime, last place, and on to Cleveland. We are, we’re getting through this thing here at Baltimore positive. We’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour throughout August. Now I do have some lucky sevens doublers. I do have some pressure looks that I gave away over at Zeke’s coffee on Friday. You will be tuning in this week to some of the finest radio I’ve done a long time. I had beers at 1623 last week at an Eldersburg with our friends at the Maryland lottery and curio wellness given out a bunch of winners out there at 1623, brewing as well as on Friday morning, we were Zeke’s coffee in beautiful laraville. I’m still eating pastry. I’ve picked up the peach cake. Beware the peach cake. Luke Jones, because my 27 favorite things to eat for our 27th anniversary, and maybe even a new AI inspired logo for our 27th anniversary will be coming at us. But you know, you’ve got training camp. I mean, I hope you got your SPF out and whatever you got to do out there. I know Flacco says you media guys are getting soft covering these training camps. There is the baseball trading deadline, and I got to be honest with you, bro, like you, and I went at it after the all star game in your Wildwood pizza adventures. And you know, I’m running off with air supply and running off with Rod Stewart Cheap Trick this week, and doing music and just sort of getting away and having other conversations about Trump politics, immigration media with Kevin Gallagher from the Baltimore formerly of the Baltimore Sun and Dan Rodricks, just having these conversations. Baseball didn’t come up a lot, man, you know what I mean, like, and the trading deadlines not coming up with regular folk, just just the nerds, just people that care about who’s might be an a ball in Fresno that might be able to be the next Kyle Bradish or whatever, but, and then they get their ass kicked on Friday and they lose a game on Saturday. Probably should have won. Then they won a game on Sunday, they might have lost. It’s just it starts to really fall off the cliff quickly for their brand and for them, especially when, like, you’re in your car to Owings Mills, three, four days a week.
Luke Jones 02:21
Yeah. I mean, it’s not a surprise, and we’re at the point now where the ravens are really going to start taking over. And look, it’s training camp. We’re not going to make too much of it in terms of, like, what’s actually happening on a day by day basis, but there’s going to be more interest in it because of the Orioles being in the spot that they’re in. And look, I think there’s interest in the trade deadline, but I think the reality is, what’s really going to come of it, right? I mean, okay, I’ll buy that Ryan O’Hearn can fetch a nice return. Are you going to get guys that are the best prospects in baseball, or anything like that? No. I mean, you’re you hopefully can get a guy or two that might be able to help you in the next couple years, but you kind of go down the list. I mean, let’s start with Friday night. I mean, Charlie Morton, we’ve talked about him in terms of how good he’s been since mid May and what that could mean for the trade deadline. And I know, I think it was Ken Rosenthal during the all star break, was talking about, hey, what about the Red Sox? Right? I mean, they need starting pitching. Alex Cora knows Charlie Morton from their days in Houston. Maybe he could be a fit. Well, he goes out and gets shelled on Friday night. So right off the bat, you’re kind of looking at that and saying, not just from a standpoint of the Orioles losing 11 to one the way they did on Friday night, which was a completely listless kind of pathetic performance all the way around. But you’re also looking at it through the lens of, well, that’s not exactly what you want when you’re trying to deal Charlie Morton, right? So you kind of go down the list, and for me, it’s not even okay. They lost two out of three. I mean, it doesn’t change anything. They’re already in last place. We already have thrown dirt on them multiple times, the leading times where they play better. It’s not long enough to really sustain to make you buy in, but that’s where I kind of look at it, and go down the list of the individuals. So you see Charlie Morton struggle. You see Cedric Mullins. He had a couple hits over the weekend, but hasn’t been very good for a long time now, and he’s a guy that you’re hoping to deal. I think they’ll be able to deal him. But is he going to get them anything that’s really going to move the needle in the future? I don’t know. If you’re a team in the race and you deal for him, yeah. I mean, I mean, it depends on I’m doing sports radio in that town. What are we saying about him? You know? I mean, you’re saying that, hey. I mean, this is a guy that is capable of getting hot, you know, you go back to the fact that he’s a 3030, guy a few years back. He’s going to play good defense, even if the throwing arm is certainly but he’s certainly not someone that is going to be a, you know, a headline guy at the trade deadline. So that’s where you just kind of look at this thing. And you. Know, it’s underwhelming for me in that regard. I mean, I’m intrigued to see who exactly is going to be dealt. You know, I think we’ve talked about guys like Laureano or Ramona RIAs or Dean Kramer, even, who pitched really well Saturday. And I don’t think they’re going to deal Dean Kramer, but if a team is really looking for, they’re going to get a call about Dean Kramer, right? I mean, they’re going to get a call about a lot of they’ve gotten calls about Felix Bautista like Mike Elias should listen to anything. That doesn’t mean he’s going to move everyone or Dennis.
Nestor Aparicio 05:33
Also, when the team comes forward says, I can use that guy, they sort of know you did a piece you need, and they need to talk turkey, and they need to sort of overpay you to get what they want if they really want Dean Kramer, right? So, I mean, this isn’t like tire kicking, like we might be interested in that guy a little bit, let’s be honest, dude, this time last year, Mike Elias was really interested in Trevor Rogers, right? Sure, he was sort of a damaged goods guy pitching for nobody nowhere. Maybe it’s not so good right now, like Cedric Mullins or whatever. Even Austin Hayes’s time last year was sort of like, you know, what are we getting here if we’re the Phillies, but if you believe in Him, if you see that extra pep in the step that even Elias saw two years ago in the the outfielder from the Yankees that they picked up for a bag of beans and made hay with for, you know, 90 days or whatever, and thought, well, at least we got some sort of pile diver guy in October that we can wrap ourselves around. I don’t know that Ryan O’Hearn feels that way to me, you know. I don’t know that Santander felt that way to me, or even Tyler O’Neill, or any of these guys they’ve been involved with where you’re like, I’ve got to have that guy for the next 90 days, but an arm different I feel. I mean, that’s how desperate the Orioles were last year, that the orals were desperate enough to deal for Jack Flaherty this time two years ago, right? And it didn’t work out, and Trevor Rogers this time last year. So these all, all, all of these things are a roll of the dice, but they’re also the match and style making the fight in in some way where, yeah, you want Charlie Morton. I mean, the Orioles are going to take whatever the best deal on Charlie Morton is. Sure that won’t be the case with Kramer. You’re going to have to come to them and bring and say, Hey, we got a piece for you, right? You know. And if you don’t have a piece, you’re gonna listen, that’s, and that’s that goes without saying across all of us, but it sounds so rotisserie easy on the internet to just deal off, make six deals this week, and that becomes a little bit more fire sailing and a little bit more like, when you and I look at it, say, these all aren’t good deals, but it just and for him to say, Elias, we’re not doing a fire sale, right, and we think we’re going to win next year based on what,
8Luke Jones 07:53
well, based on, based on your young core. I mean, that’s what it still has to come back to. I’m not ready to throw in the towel and say that this is going to be a multi year rebuild again. I mean, I hope not. I certainly want to see the members of the young core play better down the stretch. I’m intrigued to see Kyle Bradish start his rehab assignment this week. We also found out over the weekend that Grayson Rodriguez have been shut down again. And, I mean, that’s just so for me, it look, at least in the case of Bradish, it was a clearly identified injury. Last winter, he tried to rehab the use of the sprained UCL. He came back, made what eight starts, he actually pitched well. In those eight starts, if you recall, he looked like a Cy Young candidate, yeah. I mean, he’s, he’s looked like that from the second half of 2022 I mean, look at what his numbers have been since July of 2022 up until June of last year. Now, the thing that’s kind of telling to me is Kyle Bradish is starting his rehab assignment this week, which puts him on track to potentially make some starts come the end of August and in the month of September, which that’s certainly something that can help you be informed in terms of where he is for next year. Doesn’t mean again that you just say, Oh, well, we got a race. We don’t need to do as much on the pitching side. No, that’s not what I’m saying, but you can at least be informed to say, hey, he looked really good in these four starts. We feel confident that he’s going to be in our rotation, whether he ends up being the one, the two, the three or the four, right? He’s going to be in that piece, in that mix. But, you know, you just the difference between him and Grayson Rodriguez, right? Now, I mean, Grayson Rodriguez, it’s like, okay, so what is it? Is it the UCL? Is it something else with the elbow? Is it the shoulder, the lat? Are these issues connected? Is it something mechanical? Is it something in terms of strength training? And for me, it’s like, why can’t you identify what’s going on here? Because, you know, I’m kind of talking about this in a roundabout way, Grayson Rodriguez made, he’s made, I think, a total of nine starts since Brad. This went down, ultimately, last June and had Tommy John surgery. So, like, it’s kind of crazy when you think about how long that feels. I mean, that’s been 13 months. And Grayson Rodriguez, I mean, he hasn’t pitched since the end of July last year.
Nestor Aparicio 10:14
So Well, the thing that makes this problematic for me is he, he is the Jim Palmer guy he’s supposed to be. He’s one of those guys look. I’ve seen him pitch. He had the highest ceiling for me. He looked the most like Roger Clemens to me. You know, of looking really good too. But, yeah, no, go ahead. I hear, you know, we saw Brad is just a little bit more wiry and built different, delivered different, like all of that. But I mean, I as just far as a physical specimen and a power pitcher and a body type and an arm and a delivery and an effectiveness through all of his career. I looked at him as being, this is going to be there, Corbin burns. This is going to be a guy that, if he’s the horse that gets the post, he could, he could be a guy that wins. Cy Young’s that’s a 20 game winner, that’s all of that in the bag of donuts. It gets us two, $50 million um, I don’t know. Man, we’re like, year three into the struggle here and going into year four, because he ain’t pitching this year.
Luke Jones 11:10
Well, yeah, and now, and now, you wonder if he’s going to pitch next year. I mean, if, and they’ve obviously, they’re going to do all the imaging. He’s going to get second opinion, third opinion, right? They, when he had the elbow issue earlier in the spring, they were very clear that it wasn’t the UCL. And, look, I don’t think they were necessarily lying about that or anything. I think a lot of times you are trying to figure out, like, what’s the kinetic chain here, where? Where’s the breakdown in terms of what’s causing these issues? Are they related, or is there more than one issue, right? I mean, it’s, it’s not always just as clear cut as, Oh well, you know, just give a guy Tommy John surgery. No, it ends in that, and we might be talking about that in the next few days, right? But I think what’s frustrating, and this even goes back to when he held court in the Orioles clubhouse. What was that? About a month ago, you know, somewhere in that neighborhood, and he was asked the question, you know, have you been able to have you or the organization, or anyone else that you’ve worked with over the years, been able to, I to pinpoint what’s caused these issues? Because it hasn’t so much been the elbow for him, it’s been the lat issues, right? You go back to his last year in the minor leagues, June. It was June, early June of 2022 I mean, he was on the verge of being called up at that point, had the lat strain, missed three months, came back the following year, was healthy in 2023 it was his rookie year. Now, it was up and down performance wise, right? And he got sent down in May of that year. But that’s the one year he’s been durable since then, another lad issue elbow, right? I mean, it just had the triceps soreness. It’s just been a lot of different things and and you just look at this and you say, Okay, what is it? You know, are we talking about something that is a little less clear cut than okay? He has a UCL damage and as Tommy John surgery, because even looking at it through that lens, if you don’t correct whatever has caused all of this to happen, what’s not to say that he’s not going to rehab Tommy John surgery and then still have lad issues, right? And that’s talking enough a year or two down the down the road. So it’s just very frustrating on that front, compared to Bradish, which, don’t get me wrong, was awful in terms of what it meant for last year’s team and the potential of that rotation when they had Corbin burns leading the way, and Bradish was your two, and Grayson Rodriguez was supposed to be your three. But at least in Bradish his case, okay. UCL injury. Tried the PRP injection and the conservative rehab route, as many pitchers do, it kind of sort of worked out very briefly, but it was fleeting, and then he got Tommy John surgery, and hopefully, you know, he’s gonna begin his rehab assignment this week, and he’s got a chance to make four or five starts at the end of the season as kind of a litmus test. You think
Nestor Aparicio 14:01
8he’s Labor Day, and that’s, I mean, it’s weeks from now, right? Well, think about it. Well,
Luke Jones 14:06
you just think about it in terms of your typical pitcher, you have 30 days for a rehab assignment. So if he’s going to start, what July 24 I guess it is that 30 days that’ll put him at the end of August. Now, let me be clear, I don’t think that necessarily means that if he makes a start on August 28 that he’s going to throw 95 pitches that night. It might be a case of where they say, all right, he’ll throw four innings, and we’ll see how it looks. You know, see what the pitch count is, and then next time out, it’s five innings and seven, you know, 75 or 80 pitches, right? There’ll be some kind of a progression there, and this has nothing to do with them being competitive the rest of the way, this is trying to find out about them in the same way that I want to see them play Kobe Mayo every day, in the same way that when Samuel basayo gets called up later this you know, hopefully later this year, and you’re looking at him, you’re looking at maybe Dylan beavers being called up and playing in the out. Field, because they’re trading Cedric Mullins, for example. So you know where they are right now. These, these last, you know, this last week, week and a half to the trade deadline. For me, it’s anyone that is a trade candidate, just perform. That’s why Morton on Friday night was disappointing. That’s why it’s disappointing when Cedric Mullins goes over. You know, it’s good to see Ryan o’hern hit a home run over the weekend, because quietly, over the last five, six weeks, you know, he hasn’t, hasn’t hit the way that he did over the first couple months of the season, which look, those are the ebbs and flows of a season. I’m not saying that to be critical. It’s just the truth. So
Nestor Aparicio 15:37
if you believe in them, it’s not hard to believe in holiday or Henderson or Westberg when he’s in there, a little different on cowser and ruchman for me at this point, I don’t know. And then there’s just the management of all of it, where I see Elias as a genius when we’re discussing Corbyn burns. You know, every time we mentioned Corbin burns, we’re like, dude, they kind of had this thing tracked that if Rodriguez and Bradish would have been okay, they might have been a real contender last year. And I’ll, I can paint that brush a million different ways. And um Elias is demeanor and the trades and the arrogance and the you’re running from the media and just sort of the holier than now for the fan base that Billick, you know, had big word syndrome, Harbaugh’s got Trump syndrome, but that’s a whole different syndrome. But you know how, how his popularity is versus his acumen and his ability to judge talent versus money versus the management he’s been through two different ownership groups, neither one of them know their arm from their elbow, and we’re in regard to baseball, which is to his benefit. I mean, the draft last week, he said, I got all these guys now, I even got some arms for you, Luke. I drafted pictures so like, I think there’s a point where he’s trying to get the eraser out on this year by making deals and then pimping whatever he gets in the deal next week, whatever three or four players it may be a piece for next year’s team, and then get money bags his checkbook out in the off season. I guess, right,
Luke Jones 17:28
yeah. I mean, I guess. And it’s funny, you mentioned the draft. I mean, their draft was pretty highly regarded. I mean, it was a little peculiar that you take two catchers early, but as I’ve said to you, I mean, you don’t draft with the current year, or even the next year, or really even the year after that. In mind, that’s more of a three or four year players. That’s exactly so. So that’s like, and that’s where the Keith laws and the calluses of the, you know, the the baseball America’s baseball prospectus, they all pretty universally liked the Orioles draft. That was good for the Orioles that was good for Mike Elias and Matt bloody
8Nestor Aparicio 18:01
really speaks to this sport. How many number ones across the sport over the last quarter of a century, even as analytics get better, never make it in baseball, how long it takes? It’s like the difference between, like, a pregnant, you know, Otter, and a pregnant elephant that takes 15 months to make the baby. It’s like nothing happens quickly here with baseball and and with the arm thing. Oh my god. I mean, I mean, it’s like buying beachfront property in places, you know, we’re going to flood well.
Luke Jones 18:35
And obviously this is kind of a broad, rough example from the standpoint of understanding that plenty of college kids are drafted as well, but it’s akin that if the NFL drafted kids out of high school rather than college, right? I mean, there are five, four and five star recruits all the time in that that go into college football and end up not being what you thought they were going to be just like, there are plenty of guys that are one and two star guys that no one really wanted, and they go to some mid major and in this day and age generally, now they’ll transfer to bigger schools because of Nio and all that, but then they end up becoming a star in the NFL five years later. So, you know, I mean, the draft was good for them because it gave it gave them something to kind of puff their chest out about, because there’s nothing about this 2025 season that you can puff your chest out about, other than a few individual performances here and there. So, you know, you mentioned Trevor Rogers. He pitched well again on Sunday. That was good to see, you know. So they’re going to get called. They’ve gotten calls about Trevor Rogers. But you know, again, if you’re to believe Mike Elias and where I think they view themselves, which is trying to reload and revamp and fix and tweak and get guys healthy and say, okay, 2026 is going to be different. I mean, they’re not going to go into 2026 as the fan. Favorite to win the American League pennant in the eyes of Las Vegas. That’s certainly a reality for them, but there’s nothing that that says that they can’t tweak and make some savvy signings and get some guys back healthy and be much better next year, because we’ve talked about this. I mean, have they been a better team overall since they since the third week of May. Yes, they have been, but when you start where they were when they were 18 games under 500 on the on the 24th of May, I mean, we’ve talked about the mental drain that has been watching it as a as fans, as media covering the team, so you can imagine what that does for the psyche of young ball players. Where you look up It’s Memorial Day and you’re out of it. I mean, you say the right things to the media, but they know the reality of where they’ve been for two months now. So there’s this hope, there’s going to be this effort, there’s going to be this message that they’re going to wipe the slate clean, and they’re going to come into spring training, and they’re going to be better, and the younger guys are going to be another year older and more experienced, and they’re going to be calloused up from How terrible 2025 was, and Mike Elias is going to make these savvy signings. I mean, that’s what the that’s what the message is going to be. Now, is that going to work? I don’t know. I’m not going to sit here, and some of that is long off season for their ticket sales, no doubt. Oh, there’s no question about that. I mean, uh, let’s face it, man, and you and I’ve talked about this, and this is much more of a business enterprise kind of topic. There are, there are very few players in baseball that truly move the needle in terms of really selling tickets. Shohei Otani, does it. Aaron judge, does it. There are maybe a couple other guys here and there, and that’s so the reality of where they are ticket sale wise is they’re just they’re going to pay for their sins of the last 18 months, right? I mean, goes
Nestor Aparicio 22:04
back to let me just soli for one minute, because I was in Toronto a year and a half ago seeing Getty Lee and Alex license do get his book tours last another tour was a big surprise thing. Getty’s a baseball guy, very much so. And that day in Toronto was in December, and that was the day that the rumor was that Otani was on a plane to Toronto, like the I was there the day they thought Ohtani was flying to Toronto to visit and the city was abuzz. And you were there on opening day. You know, people there have a little bit of a baseball Jones. They might reach in and stroke a check. They would have sold a lot of tickets in Toronto had Otani decided to sign in Canada for whatever reason. It wouldn’t have been money or finance, or what how money works, or taxes, or a tax shelter like Florida would be, or whatever. But, and he did sign in California, which is Leonard Raskin, pointed out last week, did nothing to help his money. You know, he’s gave away 7% just showing up in California to play baseball. But the Toronto thing was, there was real hope, and they had the money and all of that. He wasn’t coming, really at all. What if he came here? Would it? Would everybody be running to their checkbook to give the Orioles five grand? I don’t think so. And I don’t know who that player is, Corbin burns would be that kind of player. They’re not going to get a better pitcher than Corbin burns this off season, right? I mean, like, if they do that, call me, wake me. I wanted two texts that day, the day that they trade for a pitcher that’s going to be better or more upside than Corbin Brooks. Now that’s not purchase hurt Arizona wasted the money I’m just talking about on perception and on hope, and what they can do for the Oriole carnival, which they don’t even have anymore, the winter fest, or whatever it is, where they gather everybody, and, you know, the team gets up and makes nice and actually communicates with their fan base the way they used to 30 years ago, and and moonlight madness, where they would sell out their season on Christmas Day. I mean, that when BJ sur Hoff would sign, or Jimmy key or Roberto Alomar didn’t have to run out to sell tickets, the tickets were already sold. I mean, so I don’t think there’s anything to your point that’s going to get anybody excited or more excited than Corbin burns. But I would say, when you said, Well, there’s nobody that sells tickets like Otani. And I’m like, Ohtani wouldn’t sell tickets here. Hey, look, in Pittsburgh, they gave a bobble head away over the weekend where they had a line across the bridge, which is hard for me to conceive, because I’ve walked that bridge like they had a line in the Pittsburgh side of the river to get a bobble head, and they’re the pirates. Nobody goes to their games. But like it does, astonish me, what sells and what doesn’t sell? What gets energy? I mean, the savannah bananas are coming in next week, dude, don’t take me down that avenue, because my wife and I have been. Toying with this, like what makes this interesting, or what makes this something people want to spend a lot of money on and go see, or what makes it entertaining? And I don’t know, but the Orioles have a lot of issues, and none of them are getting solved by making Cal Ripken the executive vice president of this, or Adam Jones The Senior Advisor to that living in Barcelona. By the way, I’m going to, apparently, be having breakfast with Adam Jones on Thursday morning along with some other local executives. But I don’t, and these are the kinds of things that if I knew Adam Jones, I talked to him about it. If Jim Palmer wanted to get a beer with me at amici, I’d learn about like, if anybody inside knew anything, I’d try to learn, but they’re a closed shop. It’s like Willy Wonka. It’s been that way for 35 years now. The new guy comes in, and you and I have to speculate about their awfulness, when, quite frankly, we should just be talking about the Ravens. Man,
Luke Jones 25:55
8yeah, well, and, and, I look, I don’t disagree with a lot of what you said, although Shohei Otani withdrawal, because that would be such a dynamic shift and change. As far as the kind of player that any team
Nestor Aparicio 26:08
so many people come and see him play on this I’m not saying that every sponsor in town reaches in finds a half a million dollars for them, and every business finds eight season tickets at 10 grand a pop. You know what I mean, like, that’s the kind of money dude I was at. Merriweather the other I guess that’s the argument against either 17 bucks. And she’s like, my god, you know I it’s good that we didn’t bring friends and get around. It makes 100 disappear. So, I mean, I know what it costs to go do this, and what it costs to bring show a Otani in. And then what you need to look at and say is it immediately in Seattle, it would have sold in places where there’s an Asian community would sell tickets in places where there’s a baseball community with money ready to give them. This isn’t that town anymore. That’s the problem. Money Bags don’t know that. The Whistler doesn’t know that. Katie Griggs, this isn’t the town that just has companies laying around waiting for Cal Ripken to show up or for them to sign three players in the off season. The weight used to be I saw Palmera was back here this week. You know, like those players of that era, in that era of off seasons, is 30 years ago where people got really excited and they made news. I mean, they could sign some really good baseball players, and some people here wouldn’t even know who they are. You don’t need to get excited about it if you’re not in the baseball eco chamber to some degree, and they’re going to market Henderson and holiday, I guess, and the I mean that that’s what they should be marketing, but I don’t know that that they can market winning this off season. And that’s where I’ll bring it back to the baseball thing with you, politely and to say Mike Elias is talking about winning next year. Well, I don’t know. He might get the pundits excited about it, or whatever he might get you, and I excited about it, but I’ll be shocked if they get a pitcher better than Corbin burrow, if they if they can make their pitching look and smell as good as it did 16 months ago, that’s going to be really hard thing to do in this environment with money and arms and expectations and what they have in their own situation right now, which is a boatload of question marks, just a lot of questions,
Luke Jones 28:22
well, but the question, see, we’re focusing on the headliners, right? 2023 they didn’t have Corbin burns. They won 101 games that year, right? I mean, the Dodgers did not have an ace that was healthy and pitching for them last October, the Rangers. The Rangers ace was Jacob deGrom, recovering from Tommy John surgery two years ago, right? It was avaldi and Jordan Montgomery. So you know, you don’t need a true, high priced, highly paid ace to win. You need a good starting rotation across the board. Is it better having an ace if in a perfect world? Yeah, of course. So look, they need. This is where you’re hoping Mike Elias can operate here, assuming he’s going to continue to be the guy, at least for one more calendar year, right? I mean, who knows? I mean, we’re still speaking in, you know, assumptions based on what we’re seeing. And until a move is made, he’s the general manager, right? Just like until a move was made, Brandon Hyde was the manager and getting votes of confidence until he wasn’t the guy anymore. But I think everything you talk about off the field, I’m not going to sit here and disagree with how tough it’s going to be to sell tickets this winter, but that’s where you just need to almost go back to the approach you had, say, three winters ago, not in terms of what moves you make, but in terms of just having your head down and get to work and make good savvy moves and make some good savvy signings and make some good savvy trades that aren’t necessarily going to quote win an off season in terms of perception, but you know what it can do. You. Get your baseball team back on track, which is ultimately has to be, you know, you can talk about all these other things that they need to do better, and I agree, but you can do all those other things better, and if your team still stinks and is in last place, no one’s going to come right. We could talk about restaurants that have great ambience, and they might be really good as far as bringing in entertainment, and they’ve got really cool decor, and they might even have a really nice staff that treats you well, but if the food stinks, if the meatloaf is dry, forget about you. They’re not going to go back, right? So, so it still comes back to that, yes, there are other things that they’re going to have to do better. I wholeheartedly agree, but this is where you look at this thing, and it’s like, man, you got to get to work. You got to fix this pitching staff. You need to fix some of these young players. You need to put these guys in a better position. You need to hire a good manager, because Tony mancellino is not the guy long term. This coaching staff, to me, is not the staff long term. There might be a couple guys here and there that you want to keep around, but largely you’re going to make changes there, I assume. So there’s a lot of work to be done. And can they win next year? Sure. But I look at that more through the lens of what I thought this was all going to be a year ago, and what it was a year ago, what it was two years ago especially. But, man, they’ve got to make some, some changes. They’ve got to get back on track. They’ve got, you know, we seen Kyle Stowers at that, at the All Star game last week. I look at that and say, Man, why couldn’t you fix him? You know? And there were even some articles written about him as far as how he made some adjustments to be able to hit velocity, which was something that he was struggling in his limited opportunities in the majors. And look, I’m not saying the Orioles handled him well or didn’t, or gave him enough playing time they didn’t, but there was also an adjustment to be made there. So that’s where I look at this, and it makes me take pause, especially if you’re in a position where you consider trading some of these guys, where I say, you know, Heston kerstad, can you give me some new coaches, you know? Can you get me some, some new eyes on him to see about maybe fixing him before you sell him off for a bag of baseballs and he becomes the next Kyle Stowers? And look, it’s possible Hess and kerstad Isn’t that guy, right? That, as we’ve talked about for the better part of a few years now, all these prospects, chances are at least a couple of these guys aren’t going to pan out. Right? I mean, that’s just the nature of it. Well, especially the guys that don’t have a glove too sure, no question. And again, I’m just saying kerstad As an example, because he’s the latest guy that you say, Hey, he’s failed, and he’s even struggling in triple A now, as he’s trying to make adjustments. You know, Kobe mayo, I want to see him play. I’m not convinced that Kobe Mayo is going to be their first baseman for the next 10 years, but I want to see him play. And when something happens like what has happened with Kyle Stowers, it makes me look at their player development and their coaching differently. I’ve talked about this a lot here recently, as far as what’s going on with their strength and conditioning. Why have they had so many hamstring injuries? Even young guys. Enrique Bradfield tweaked his hamstring again. He’s in the minor leagues. I mean, he’s someone that had you looked at him from a perfect timeline standpoint, that he might be ready to take over for Cedric Mullins next year. Now it’s like, maybe best case scenario, Brad field is ready the second half of next year, but like, he’s not going to be your opening day center fielder. So what are you going to do there? Are you going to put cows? Are there? You’re going to go get another center fielder? You know, in the same vein that they got Ramon Laureano to be a corner outfielder, and that’s worked out really well. So, you know, I that’s where I just look at this thing. And we talked about this so much when Brandon Hyde was was fired because, you know, the AX fell on somebody finally, after how horrible the first two months of the season had been. But we said it at the time. It’s like, Look, if anyone thought that Brandon Hyde was the only problem at the time. I mean, I don’t really think much of your opinion, if you if someone thought that that was that was true, but we’ve certainly seen in the two months that have followed that Brandon Hyde was not the only problem on this team. I’m not sure how much of a problem he even was right, not saying he was blameless, but on my list of 10 things, Brandon Hyde was not in the top two or three for me. But
Nestor Aparicio 34:26
Well, this is where it comes back to consumer confidence to some degree, not just in buying their tickets, but buying their philosophy, believing what selling and I don’t know they’ve done a lot of things since this new ownership came in to make me think you guys suck as bad as the old guys, and I see no signs of life. Matter of fact, John Angelo’s can see I handed your first place team, and now look at it, and the attendance has gone down. So I mean, John Angelos can do a happy PP dance, you know, after hitting a walk off grants. Slam. So it’s weird, and I don’t understand it. I haven’t understood it since that Whistler guy pissed in my eye on the phone 15 months ago, and I called you and I’m like, What’s up with these people? They’re not nice, no, they’re not competent, and they don’t know what they’re doing, and they’re naive. And the general manager fired the manager when the boat hit the rocks for the first time and nothing got better. They sacrificed the manager. This guy looks like a freak out there arguing balls and strikes when his player throws a helmet that almost gives himself a bloody fake. I mean, mancilino no no bueno. I mean, come on. I mean, that’s what I’m saying about losing faith. It’s July, and it feels like we’re not rebuilding, but we’re going to sneak some at bats to this guy and bring this dude. You’re playing preseason football now it’s July. You’re literally playing preseason 2026, ball at this point, and just trying to pad up Henderson and holiday and get those guys some stats at this point on a fourth place team, if I’m being optimistic, and I think they could pick up six, seven games on the teams in front of them, I don’t know, man, and then they’re going to deal off a bunch of stuff that’s going to make them a diminished team in 10 days. And then we’re going to have Kobe mayo, and maybe that works out. I mean, to your point, a couple of these things, westburg, Mayo, Bradish, some of this needs to smell better. By the time the ravens are one in three, or whatever they’re going to be, October 1. You know what I mean, or three in one? Sorry, I was
8Luke Jones 36:34
going to say I let’s hope they’re not one in three. My goodness, I can only imagine what been Detroit, Kansas City, let’s go. I mean, they’ve got to start fast. No doubt we’ll get to that. But yeah, I want to see signs too. And look, it’s tough because, yeah, you are going to deal off some and let’s be clear, are they going to miss Ryan o’hern? Sure, they’re. They’re in last place with these guys, right? I mean, at some point in time, you have to also be realistic, as far as you know, assuming they’re not going to deal gunner Henderson, assuming they’re not going to heal deal Jackson holiday, assuming they’re not going to deal Jordan westburg, right? I mean, they’re going to keep the core guys. I don’t
Nestor Aparicio 37:13
think they could deal Adley rutschman Right now, and that would be stupid. Oh, I
Luke Jones 37:18
mean, and as I said to you, even as we’ve used our Colton cowser example, just as kind of an exercise going back and forth, I still think if you’re making a move along those lines, that, to me, is like a winter deal, right? That’s going to be something that happens over the winter where you find a partner that you say, Okay, this team has a pitcher that we like to be either our ace or our number two or our number three, you know, say, a top half of the rotation guy, and he’s got two years of control, and they really want, I don’t, and whether it’s Colton cowser or Kobe mayo or whoever it is, right? And you make a move, but I don’t think that moves coming to fruition now. I think that’s a winter move, if that’s a move to be made at some point. So you’re looking at O’Hearn, you’re looking at Mullins, you’re looking at the bullpen guys. I mean Sir Anthony demanding as melting down Saturday night. That was unfortunate, because I think he’s a guy that has profiled well enough that
Nestor Aparicio 38:09
8you could there’s nothing worse than when these guys just stink this week, right? Thinking this week really messes things up. Hey, Soto and Dominguez were the guys that stunk this time last year for the Phillies, right, right? That’s how they wound up here, and they
Luke Jones 38:22
and look, you can deal guys. I mean, here’s one for you. Ryan mountcastle is getting ready to start a rehab assignment. Could you deal him by the trade deadline? I think you can. You’re not going to get anything for him, but I think you’re at a point with him where he’s going to be entering the final year of arbitration. He hasn’t really produced for over a calendar year now, and he’s been hurt on top of that, you know, he could be a guy that maybe you trade for a couple 18 or 19 year old lottery ticket type prospects, where you say, Okay, this guy’s got some upside, maybe in three years, he amounts to something, right? So, and you would do that with the thought that we’re clearing the deck for Kobe Mayo to play, for Samuel basayo to play. We’re going to evaluate those guys the next two months, and then we’ll have a more informed evaluation to go into the off season, right and and who knows, depending on how that works out, maybe we try to resign Ryan O’Hearn over the off season like we did Mike bordick, 25 years to go. Well, sure, feels like Messiah is not coming. Well, I think, well, he had going back to my point about strength and conditioning. He had some oblique soreness over the weekend. I mean, again, what is going on with their strength and conditioning? I’m I’m not even talking about the pitcher health. Pitcher health is a problem everywhere. I’m not going to beat up the Orioles for that individually, I might question what’s going on with Grayson Rodriguez individually, but on the macro level, there are arm injuries all around baseball. Rich teams, four teams, great teams, bad teams. Right? Everyone, right, everyone. The Dodgers have had a ton of them over the years. So. I’m not beating them up on that, but when I see young players that are getting hamstring injuries over and over and I just, and I’m not even, let me be clear, I’m not guaranteeing with 100% certainty, because how would I know that something is wrong? But I’m questioning if something is wrong right. I’m questioning that you need to really look at this, because this is not helping this has not helped your cause. The fact that Jordan Westberg missed as much time as he did not last year, I mean a broken hand when you get hit by a pitch, there’s no strength and conditioning other than wear some padded gloves, right? Because those are out there for players to wear, I know will Carroll. A longtime ball writer has advocated that everyone in baseball should wear these padded gloves that would cut down on the broken bones in hands when a guy gets hit by a 98 mile per hour fastball. So, you know, those are the things I’m questioning. But like Jordan westburg, he had a hamstring issue and then had a setback, and he missed what six weeks, Jordan Westberg has been really, really good for them since coming back. They missed him big time, right? That they’ve missed they missed Colton cows are big time the first two months of the season. They’ve missed Adley rutschman The last month now, right? I mean, I’m not saying that you can’t have any injuries. That would be foolish of me, but when I’m seeing as many injuries as I’ve seen, that are of the hamstrings and obliques and things of that nature. I’m really asking, are you guys doing everything you can for an organization that back in 2019 and 20 and 21 while they stunk on the field, there was so much cutting edge going on behind the scenes to build up this organization, Mike, I’m questioning, are you guys as cutting edge as you need to be, from a strength and conditioning standpoint, from a sports science standpoint, from a recovery standpoint, from an injury prevention standpoint, that’s a big question I have right now. And look, I wouldn’t expect Mike Elias to spell it out in minute detail to assure me that something’s going on there, but that has to or that they’re doing things to make that better. But, man, that’s been a big part of this. As much as we want to bash the moves that have been made and coaching and performance on the field, a big part of this is still the number of injuries that they have, the
Nestor Aparicio 42:19
level of incompetence I’ve seen at various points and lack of leadership, it varies enough for me to fire Mike Elias and has nothing to do with baseball acumen. We’ll talk more about it. And you know, it’s trading deadline week, and the Orioles are in last place. I mean, it’s my 27th anniversary, and it’s probably the 20th year. You could say that maybe 2021, out of 27 years, they’ve been in last place or like that, and been dealing off bags of donuts in July while we wait for the football team to show up and sort of rescue the day. And I guess thankfully for the community there, you know they are. Here. They got it. Erica tender, it’s July. Luke could be found out of Baltimore. Luke, you can find him anywhere good internet travels. We’re gonna have the marijuana scratch off to give away into early August. Our next Maryland crab cake tour stop is August 7. We will be at Beaumont. It is our 27th anniversary. We’re gonna be going nuts in August, having a good time getting ready for football season, talking a lot of fall things around here. Had a great week last week, out on the crab cake tour at Zeke’s coffee, as well as at 1623 brewing with some old friends. You’ll be hearing that at W n s t all week long, Luke and I are going to get together. There’ll be football news and information. Any breaking news happens first on the W n s t tech service. 1000s of you were on it. It’s all brought to you by coal, roofing and Gordian energy. We got plenty more to talk about. I’m Nestor. He’s Luke. We are W N S T, n, S T AM, 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. You.
