It’s always fun talking baseball after a long winter. With the Baltimore Orioles on the field showing new faces and dispatching images of spring training baseball from Sarasota, Luke Jones and Nestor prepare for the season ahead and the unique Opening Day circumstances and attendance in Toronto beyond Anthony Santander.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the upcoming Orioles season, focusing on spring training, player performances, and the team’s pitching and offensive strengths. They highlight the importance of young players like Jackson Holliday and Adley Rutschman, and the potential impact of new acquisitions and injuries. They also touch on the AL East division outlook, emphasizing the need for a reliable bullpen and the possibility of additional trades. Additionally, they reminisce about past sports experiences and discuss their upcoming trip to Toronto for the Orioles’ opening game, including plans to meet baseball historian Getty Lee and attend a Maple Leafs game.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Orioles spring training, Opening Day, Anthony Santander, Tyler O’Neill, NHL All-Star, Terps basketball, Towson basketball, pitching injuries, Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, Felix Batista, bullpen depth, AL East, Toronto trip, Getty Lee
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. Get the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road. March 6, we will be at Faith Lee’s down to Lexington market, trying to put the pieces back together with the snow and the weather all the Justin Tucker conjecture, but I am wearing my orange curio wellness shirt here. I’m getting ready for spring training pitchers and catchers, you know, learning things like Tyler O’Neill’s actually from Canada a I heard him say sorry at his locker, and I knew right away. And of course, speaking of Canada, and I watched hockey over the weekend. I know you weren’t Luke, but there was there was some hockey going on over the weekend. The Orioles will open the season in Oh, Canada, and I guess our eyes turn to Anthony Santander on opening day, and they actually open the season at the end of March. It’s kind of weird, but they’re back on the field. They’ll be playing baseball games by the end of the week. They will.
Luke Jones 00:59
But I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention I actually checked out US Canada on Saturday night. I mean, let’s face it, this is not if you’re a baseball and football guy like me, this is not a good time of year because football’s over baseball. We don’t even have spring training games for you know, until this coming weekend. But yeah, I checked that out. What? Three fights in the first 10 seconds. That was one of the wildest things I’ve ever seen. But, but, you know, I don’t want to look like
Nestor Aparicio 01:24
slap shot to me and like as a guy, and I plugged last week that I had covered fun though, like NHL All Star game in 1991 at the Pittsburgh igloo in Pittsburgh. And it was Lemieux and Gretzky, and it was, you know, 16 to 14 open ice, you know, like it was one of those team that was, that’s what it was. But the NHL all star games had all of these different phases. I don’t even really understand what the hell they’re doing. Leonard tried to explain it to me last week. I’ll ask him again. But you know, I went to the fights in a hockey game broke out kind of, yeah, yeah, on a
Luke Jones 01:55
simplistic level. And look, I don’t want to spend much more than a minute or two on hockey, because I will be exposed for not knowing anything about hockey, but for my understanding is what, it’s a tune up for NHL playing in the Olympics next year, right? So they so they figured the All Star Game stinks. I mean, the NBA tried their format, which I couldn’t even watch because the court just looked terrible. I watched the SNL 50th anniversary thing, but it seemed like it was, it was fun. I as someone who’s not even a novice Hockey Fan, I’m, I know the basic rules. I could name a few players in the league, and that’s about it. Like, seriously, that’s, that’s all for me. But I enjoyed it. I watched not the entire game on Saturday night, but I watched a lot of it, and it was fun. But yeah, it sounds like it’s just a tune up one year. Thing to to go for, you know, to tune up for the Olympics next year, but
Nestor Aparicio 02:46
we’re going to talk baseball. But before, I just indulge me in one piece of comedy. I haven’t watched the Terps play basketball all year. And, you know, I’ve got five people on my timeline and still watch it. You and I went down there. Were treated well enough that we don’t go anymore, but they had this big game against Iowa on Sunday, and I saw it, and you people were on the timeline, and Scott Van Pelt, we got to get people there and all that. And I saw how embarrassing last Valentine’s Day was when nobody went to the games and like all that. So I looked at it. It just caught my attention. On Sunday afternoon that they were playing, what time they were playing, their 25th ranked, whatever the n, i, L is, just sort of, I, by the way, Towson had a big game too. Pat scary, they had a big win the other night. I only great. I almost went to that game like, just see Pat, scary. Now we’re so it’s not like I’m out of the loop and all of this. It just reminds you said you’re talking about it because nobody else is talking about it, so I’m not talking about it. So I’d rather be talking about a couple Super Bowl or spring training, or, you know, the Orient, whatever it is, right? But the Terps played, and I swear I went down to do my dishes, to get my wife was taking a nap. I was doing some stuff, and it was like 435 in the afternoon, and they were losing by four points. I watched the last five minutes of the first half, and they were losing, and I’m like, Okay, I went downstairs to, like, make a snack. I think I made some food, and it took me a little longer than I thought, like I was tearing like, a half an hour listening to some white snake or whatever. And I finally make it back to the TV and I have my food, like I made my food, and I sat down, and by the time I got back, it was 91 to, like, 58 I’m like, What the hell happened? I mean, it was like, I did the math on it. I’m like, I wasn’t paying. I swear to God, I was in the other room. I really, I wanted to watch the last six minutes of the game. I thought, you know, it’s Terps. It’ll be a it’ll be a run, another run, and when I get back upstairs, it’ll be a five point game. Maybe the Terps will be up by a couple and it was a 35 point game. Like, I don’t know what happened, but like, I missed I missed it. Yeah, well,
Luke Jones 04:53
to give you the thumbnail, and then I promise everyone listening, we are going to talk baseball. Just to give you it’s get warmed up. Yeah, right. I mean, there’s only so many ways you could say, oh, best shape of his life.
Nestor Aparicio 05:04
The ball looks great, pronounced. The Japanese guy’s name, I’m working on that. Okay, so Miyuki Sagano,
Luke Jones 05:09
there you go. But no Terps on Sunday. First of all, give some love to Towson. They’re playing fantastic basketball, uh, hoping they get in the NCAA tournament. I mean, they pat scary. That’s a good that’s a good team. Terps, you look at it from a metric standpoint, when you look at some of the different analytics rankings and everything, I mean, they’re good, and as I watched them the last two, three weeks, they absolutely have the talent to make a run. Now, people will point to the bench depth. And I mean, even on Sunday, they scored 101.6 points from the bench, right? I mean, that they have, they play their starting five, and they play their subs, but their subs don’t do a whole lot in terms of scoring. But when you’re talking about Derek queen and Julian Reese, you have two bigs like that. I’m a big Rodney rice guy. I mean, of course, Jacoby Gillespie has been fantastic for them, you know, running the show. But I mean, they just, they’re, they’re playing well. And I think Sunday, specifically, both teams shot the heck out of the ball in the first half Iowa. I mean, kind of over their head a little bit. I mean, the Terps were too in terms of just how well they shot. I think both teams were 57 and 58% from the field in the first half. But the thing that really made me take pause and saying, I think the Terps are going to be okay in this game, Iowa shot the heck out of the ball, and the Terps had turned the ball over a ton, and Iowa had scored points off of that, yet they only led by four at halftime. You look at that and you say, okay, is that really going to continue for a team that’s on the road? Well, long story short, to your point, if you were late tuning back into the second half of Maryland boat race them, ran them off the floor in the second half. What 54 points to 20. You know? What
Nestor Aparicio 06:55
kind of struck me is, I came in and I sat down. It was six minutes and five so it was 91 to 50. It was a crazy they really
Luke Jones 07:03
caught off the dogs at the end. They could have scored. I mean, if they really kept their foot on the gas, they could have scored, like, 115
Nestor Aparicio 07:08
I was kind of shocked that the place wasn’t more raucous. You know, by the time I came up, I’m like 3030, point run here they’re on like, I just thought the place would be on fire, inferno. And it wasn’t like that at all. I mean, but just it ain’t the way it used to be, back when I was a kid. That’s all I’m gonna say. All right, Jones is here. I don’t want to play you everything you want on the Terps before
Luke Jones 07:30
we go. Just they’re fun to watch. They, unlike last year, they have shooters, you know, they can shoot from the outside. And when you have two bigs, I mean, Derek queen, I mean, he’s an NBA talent. I mean, he’s, he’s going to be in the league. He’s going to be in the NBA at this time of year from now. So enjoy him while you can. But you know, they, I’m not ready to say that. I think this is a Final Four team, but I’m very firm in thinking they, if they get a decent enough draw, they should be playing the second weekend of the tournament. I’ll be disappointed if they’re not. Let
Nestor Aparicio 08:03
me now, I gotta figure out when it’s I gotta, I gotta go do the math on all this. So now that I’ve, I’ve been away that I’ve
Luke Jones 08:08
said that, now that I’ve said that they’re gonna lose three of their next four, and you can blame me. That’s okay.
Nestor Aparicio 08:12
Look, I would awaken you to hockey in April, except you’ll have baseball. And you know, it’s what you do anyway. All right, so, um, baseball started. Uh, no, I do not have my press credential back to answer everybody’s first question at the bar at Costas on Saturday night. I know I, you know, I just do what I do, and I’m going to continue to do what I do as well as I do it, the pitching and the injuries and, you know, we talked about the kid they acquired in the Marlins deal last year, and where that’s going to be, and their confidence in Elias is early confidence, and we have more pitching than we had last year. I don’t know. I mean, I It’s so antiquated for me to sit here in February, and I’ve done this for 33 years. Man 30, this is my 34th spring training talking about baseball on the radio in Baltimore, right? And I remember when it mattered a lot. I remember when rosters were more like the way they were, and money was different, just all of it being different. I remember when ownership was different for all the last 29 years or so. I would just say that whatever it is right now, we’re like two old ladies yelling at each other into the wind in February about it, because whatever the opening day roster is, and whoever makes the team, whatever deals they’re going to make, I know enough to know they’re going to tinker, and I think you and I know enough to know they believe they might be able to hit their way Out of all of this, if holiday and rushman and everybody moves up a notch. Westburg, these, these high ceiling, sigma Dell guys, these growth mindset humans who have all gotten better. I mean, Jackson holiday, all the Paul mancanos are. He’s buff. He’s got guns. And look at that. He’s been working out. He just season, 21 years old. Stuff I said about Brady Anderson drinking those special milkshakes back in the day. Scott Erickson, so I don’t they all look good coming off the bus. I mean, the thing I’ll say is they have an immense amount of offensive talent and depth in the organization. They don’t have enough pitching. You’d like to think they have enough money to do anything, and now that Rubenstein’s got thrown out of the Kennedy Center, along with some very, very dear friends of mine by the tyrant running the country, maybe you’ll have more time to focus on the Orioles. I don’t know money, but whatever it will take, but at some point they’re going to need more pitching than what they have if they’re going to win ball games in October. That I believe that. I think you believe that. And we can start the conversation there and then meander into any how Cedric Mullins is going to do out of the nine hole, and who’s going to get the off bat at days. You know when O’Neill’s, you know they’re arresting him, or where they’re going to be. They’re not going to miss Santan there much. I don’t think if the rest of the offense moves into a position that Jackson holiday is not going to be a 212 hitter this year, Adley rutschman is not going to be the worst player in the sport for 90 days that they’re going to grow fruit. That’s all that has to happen, no matter who their pitchers are. Yeah, and
Luke Jones 11:17
I was just going to make that point as much as we focus on the pitching, and understandably so, when cordon Burns is no longer at the top of your rotation, their pitching wasn’t their downfall at the end of last year, right? I mean, we, we can certainly debate if their bullpen was going to be deep enough and all of that. But it came down to it, they scored one run in their two playoff games, you know, those two losses to Kansas City. So but you know, a couple things. I think, first and foremost, you just made the point. And I’m glad you made the point the way that you did. When you said, I don’t think they have enough pitching to get, you know, for October, I think as they’re presently constructed. And you and I have talked about this. We were on this six weeks ago, probably, you know, probably in the aftermath of when, probably when they signed Charlie Morton, right? When it was like, Okay, it’s the this 35 year old Sagano from Japan, from from Japan, who’s never pitched in the majors. And it’s a 41 year old Charlie Morton who was still pretty good in age 40 season. You know, let’s not look at him and say he was a scrub last year. He wasn’t, but he’s 41 I mean, he’s my age. That’s not who you’re typically counting on when you’re talking about being a contender. But we made the point at that point, and when you look at where they are right now, for me, the best news that came out of Mike Elias camp opening press conference, and you know, it was that Grayson Rodriguez was cleared fully for a normal off season about a week after the season ended. That’s what I wanted to hear. I think, for as much as we hear the narratives of, you know, the smell of the grass, the pitchers and catchers that reported, and hope springs eternal, and all those things that US baseball fans, all the romantic junk that we get all Misty about, right that you know, even talking about bad teams, they Well, they if this goes right and this goes right, they have a chance. There’s angst at the beginning of spring training, especially in this day and age with arm injuries, with elbows and shoulders and workloads, and guys ramping up from the off season. Think about it, at this time a year ago, all the excitement about Corbin burns. What happened on the first day of spring training? It was the buzz kill that Kyle Bradish has a UCL injury and he’s not going to be ready for opening day. And yeah, we’re optimistic, and we gave him a PRP injection a couple weeks ago, and he’s responding well, and we think he’ll be throwing and and starting to ramp up, and we’re confident he’s going to pitch this year. We know how that went. He made eight starts, albeit, hey, he pitched well over those eight starts, but he made eight starts. And I think you and I even in mid February, and not just you and I, I think anyone who knows how this typically goes, you don’t want to condemn someone to Tommy John surgery. But, you know, more often than not, that’s going to be the outcome, right? So, so there was already that. There was already John means, so I think first and foremost, as we’re talking in the context of talking about the pitching, when you look at how the spring, the spring has started, yeah, Trevor Rogers, you know, a little bit of a, you know, a kneecap issue. He wasn’t going to be on the opening day rotation anyway. You know he was, he was bound for Norfolk, barring something really strange. So nothing major there. Chase McDermott, still with a little bit of a lat strain, again, he wasn’t going to break north with the team. So they’re already in a better spot from that standpoint, right? I mean, the last thing you wanted to hear was, oh, you know, grace and Rodriguez. We’re ramping them up slowly, you know, we think he’s going to be ready for, you know, you don’t want to hear that, right? Because he’s that important. So I think they have enough pitching to navigate at least the start of the regular season and feel good about that. I mean. And think about it, two years ago, at this time, there was no cordon burns. Then, you know, there was no one that you there wasn’t even a Zach Eflin. I mean, it was Kyle Gibson, right? It was Kyle Gibson and all these young guys. And we saw how that season went. Now, did they have the bonafide ace for game one against the Rangers? Well, Kyle Bradish pitched like an ace for two thirds of the season. You know, it didn’t work out. The Rangers are better than them. The Rangers won the World Series, so they’re pitching
Nestor Aparicio 15:26
those a lot better a year and a half ago than it did six months ago. Yeah, yeah, sure, sure,
Luke Jones 15:31
so, but, but I guess my point is, with this, yeah, they’re counting on some young guys, right? They’re counting on Grayson Rodriguez to take the next step. They need Zach Eflin to stay healthy. They need, even if Charlie Morton and Sugano don’t both pitch great, they need one of those guys. Needs to pitch Well, right? They can’t have two failed, you know, eight figure contracts. You know, where you gave guys 12 million, $13 million and they’re not doing the job, right? I mean, it’s got to be, you need at least one of those guys to be really, really reliable for you. And well, then you
Nestor Aparicio 16:06
have to ask yourself, where’s the Craig Kimbrel in this? You know, where’s the next injury in this? Right? Sure, the way they’ve lost pitchers, you know, where the, you know, the mount is back and Batista back, you know, like, that’s what the next six weeks are about, for me, right? Is sitting here and saying, Where are the innings? Where are the arms, where’s the fatigue, where’s the comeback? How are the young guys, how much do you want Jackson holiday and Adley rutschman, really running around out there in March, trying to prove themselves to be ready to come up here and freeze their ass off, inevitably in April, right? Yeah,
Luke Jones 16:37
yeah. So, I mean, a lot of what we see are, you know, kind of these, you know, these incremental updates, you know, I mean, they did say with Felix Batista there, there, they want to ramp them up a little more slowly than some of the other guys. And that’s fair. I expected that, right? I mean, there’s no, no indicator of a setback or anything like that. But let’s keep in mind, we’re talking about someone who’s coming back from Tommy John surgery, albeit he’s 16 months removed from that. So I’m much more optimistic and bullish on him being good and at least very close to the pre injury form as the year goes on. But there’s always unknown there, and there’s also the thought of this isn’t just ramping him up for 162 games, it’s, you want 162 games, and then you have designs to play it in October, right? So, so you’re always keeping that in mind for anyone that’s coming off an injury but grace and Robert, you guys fully healthy, no indication whatsoever of any lingering effect of the latch strain, which was the first thing that I wanted to see. You know, they they look healthy otherwise, other than, like I said, with Trevor Rogers and and chase McDermott, who, you know, those are depth pieces, right? Those are guys that you know you’ve got to you can’t just look at your projected five. You got to look at Albert Suarez. You know, they’re going to stretch them out as a starter, he might be in the bullpen this year based on the way that their rotation is aligned, or Charlie Morton’s going to pull a hamstring in a week doing a, you know, a PFP drill, and, and then he’s, you know, he’s going to miss the start of the season. You never know. So you need depth. So, yeah, when you when McDermott or and Rogers are sidelined at the start of spring, you know, it’s, it’s a little disappointing, but not devastating to your chances at this point in time, by any means. So, you know, it comes down to this. I think they have enough pitching to navigate at least the start the first half of the season, and feel good about that understanding, yeah, their offense is designed to do the heaviest lifting for this ball club. That’s part of the reason why they faltered in the second half last year, is their offense underperformed. And then you got into Jordan westburg being heard and, you know, some other guys being banged up, rutschman, whatever the heck that was, you know, as we’ve talked about over and over and over so, so, yeah, the offense should be doing the heaviest lifting. Look at how they’ve drafted since Mike Elias and sigma del arrived. They’ve they’ve skewed towards hitting, right we know that, so that should be the biggest strength now. That said, will they have enough starting pitching to navigate the season and be good enough in the regular season? I think they have that. Do I feel good enough about that, about October and getting there, and what that means for them. Well, unless Grayson Rodriguez becomes Corbin burns, then, yeah, I’m gonna have some concerns about that. But I would also say their bullpen factors into that way more we tend to focus. And when I say we, I think just baseball fans in general, because it’s how we were brought up. That’s how we watched the game 15 years ago, let alone talking about 30 or 40 or 50 years ago. Knowing how important starting pitching is, reality is, the math has changed on that some starting pitching is, yes, still very, very important. But go, look at the percentage of even the best, the best starting pitching rotations. In baseball, go, look at what percentage they handle compared to the role their bullpen. And that’s where I look at the bullpen and say, if you have a Felix Batista, that is close to being what he was prior to Tommy John surgery, which I don’t think there’s any reason to think he can’t be that. And looking at Kittredge being brought in, and you brought back Sir Anthony Dominguez and yen, your canoe is still there. And, you know, I think Gregory Soto is an interesting wild card for the pen. You know, a left you can miss bats and finish the year pretty well after a really brutal start to his Orioles run. So, you know, you have enough names there that you’re hoping that there’s more upside. There’s a more complete nature to this bullpen, understanding that, yeah, you moved on from Danny Cool man, I still think that big question there was, I think the Orioles doubted the health of his elbow when he came back and his Velo was down and all that. But you’re still moving on from someone who did a lot of lot of good stuff for you out of the pen the last couple years. So, you know, long story to kind of answer your your premise, to respond to it. I’m in agreement with you. I think another move needs to be made, whether it’s this week, two months from now, or at the trade deadline, to go get that even if it’s not a bona fide number one, at least someone that you say, okay, that guy definitely fits in somewhere with Grayson Rodriguez and Zach Eflin. Right? You know, however you want to rank up, 123, you need a top three like that. And then we can talk about Charlie Morton and Dean Kramer and Sagano and Cade Povich and chase McDermott later in the year, or whoever you want to talk Trevor Rogers by then. But you they’re going to need another guy like that. You know, I think the interesting acquisition last week that you know, San Diego added Nick povetta, and you know, that kind of heated back up the Dylan cease, maybe going somewhere. You know, it sounds like the Padres baseball operations want to hold on to him, but considering the ownership situation there and and, you know, the the perception that they had extended themselves over the last few years to really try to win, is that going to happen? You know, we’ll see. You know, certainly the Orioles rank right there with anyone else in terms of teams that have the assets to make a trade. It’s a matter of when the Orioles want to pull the trigger on that. Do they want to do it now, or do they want this thing to play out a little bit? Do they do it in May, if some team gets off to a lousy start and their number one or number two starter is suddenly available? Or do you wait to the trade deadline and at that point you might have a much more complete picture of your entire team at that point and what you might need, or what you might be able to to part with, you know, depending on, you know, some of these young guys, right? I mean, we haven’t even talked about someone like Coby mayo and how maybe he forces his way into the equation. Sam basayo, the catcher, you know, who the early you know, if you follow all the social media updates and all the reporters down in Sarasota, he absolutely demolishes the ball. You know, he needs a little more seizing in Norfolk, there’s no question. But if this kid’s hitting 330 with 15 bombs in early June, Adley, who? Not so much, Adley, whom? But like, hey, Adley, move over. We’ve got another guy, and it might be Gary Sanchez, see you later. I mean, who knows? Again, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. But to your point, it’s, well, you
Nestor Aparicio 23:24
get gay about this because it’s right, because these guys are hitting off of pitchers. They’re number 67 and 92 and, you know, and looks, and we know a lot of that will end up not being real, right? I mean, well, spring training is weird. You get three at bats. You get it off three different caliber pitcher, right? You get an eight and a double A and a triple A pitcher, and you’re three for free. And it looks good, though from up here in the box score, because it was a B game in Bradenton or whatever, right?
Luke Jones 23:51
Or you go, Oh, for three, but you face two major league pitchers, and you crush the ball twice from a, from a actual like looking at it with your eyes, you say, hey, that young guy, he squared up so and so, really, two foul balls that went foul, right? Or, you know, one tribes, right? So, you know so and we know that. And look, when I talk about the younger guys, when I’m talking about mayo, when I’m talking about Messiah, you know, Heston kerstad, who I fully expect to be on the 26 man roster, but just how much is he going to play, right? I mean, how’s the outfield going to look? I think we all would be in agreement that the projected, quote, regular outfield, Colton cows or Cedric Mullins, Tyler O’Neill, but when you consider the the platoon splits of some of those guys, I mean, Mullins, you know, based on how he’s hit, two out of the last three years against lefties, probably shouldn’t start against left handed pitching. You know, Colton cows are, I think is a little more, hey, he’s young. Let him, let that play out. A little more. I’m guessing cows are, is going to see time in center field when Cedric Mullins is resting against lefties to start games. Tyler O’Neill, his injury history alone, let alone talking about, you know, kind of underwhelming numbers against right handed pitching the last couple years. Dollars, he’s going to get some days off, right? So everything I just laid out there, plus factor in at bats as a DH, Heston kerstat should get regular at bats. Now that doesn’t mean seven days a week, but I don’t see any reason why Heston kerstat shouldn’t be getting four starts a week between DH or playing one of the corner outfield spots. I don’t, Couser is probably the only outfielder right now where I would say, if all goes reasonably to plan, is the only guy I’d anticipate having a shot to play, you know, 155 games, right? I mean, I think the other and I’m, I guess I’m not counting like, Lane inning defensive replacement. You know, Mullins will do that if he’s not starting against a left handed starter, but you know what I mean, that guy’s penciled in the lineup just about every day. Cows are is really the only outfielder that I really see being that guy out of that outfield, and he’s got to perform, right? I mean, sure, and right. I’m making an assumption there that he takes the next step in the same way that gunner Henderson went from rookie of the year to MVP candidate. Now I’m not saying cows are going to make that kind of a
Nestor Aparicio 26:03
job. So you want to see calzer Make the Westberg jump, and you want to see Henderson make the, you know, I don’t know what jump he’s I don’t know.
Luke Jones 26:10
I mean, that’s a big with Gunner. That’s the big question. Is there another jump for him? I was just reading something, actually, right before we hopped on a, you know, our current conversation that I was looking at, you know, with so much of the stat cast data, they can track bat speed growth and different things like that, you know, things that might project to make a player better, or might just be a, you know, an outlier gunner Henderson’s bat speed improved from his rookie of the year to MVP. Is there another jump? Now it’s not going to be, you know, MVP, to greatest player of all time, but it might be. He goes from guy that was an MVP one year that suddenly he looks like he’s a top three or top four in MVP every single year. I mean, he could be that guy. He’s got that kind of talent. He’s still young enough to say that he could still get better, right? So that’s what’s exciting for someone like him. Well, I’m not expecting it, because he’s already become a great player, but when you’re looking at their group of players, and that’s why I am still very optimistic on someone like Jackson holiday, for example, who struggled last year to say the least, right? I mean, really struggled early on. Had more success when he was recalled over the summer, but still struggled. But you know, a year ago, at this time, you and I were asking about, you know, his Colton cows are going to be on the opening day roster. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting. Jordan Westberg, at this time a year ago, was coming off of his rookie year where he performed at a league average level. There’s nothing wrong with that, but he went from League average to suddenly being an all star. So when you see guys like that make a jump in this, you know, in this organization, on this major league roster, there’s no reason to think that Jackson holiday is not going to be better. There’s no reason to think that Kobe mayo, who probably is going to end up starting a year in Norfolk, just because there isn’t a place for him at the moment, but he could force his way under the roster come June, or they could end up trading Ryan mountcastle or Ryan O’Hare, and who knows, right? I mean, there’s lots of things that could happen here, but the point is, they still have such an exciting young core that as much as I get it, I was disappointed by the off season, too, right? It’s not the way I would have gone about spending the money that they did spend. But there’s still a lot to really like about this club, and they still have the resources to go out and make a move, whether it’s going to be right now, whether it’s going to be in May, or whether it’s going to be on July 30, right? I mean, we, I think they, they have a high enough floor with the group that they have now that, you know, and and I think the overall makeup of the American League is still not such so great. Where you look at this and say, you know that I you know, I think it comes down to the Orioles don’t even have to be at their absolute, very, very, very best, and every player doesn’t have to be at their very best, where I still think they’re going to firmly be in contention. So as you’re doing that, as you’re figuring this out, as you’re seeing where Grayson Rodriguez is, as you’re seeing where f is, as you’re seeing where guys like Kate povidge are, right? I mean, Kate povids, to me, he’s he, he’s not going to be in the rotation to open the year, barring an injury, but go look at what he did in September. You know, he had a good era, and he averaged over a strikeout per inning. You know, he, he showed some growth from where he was in July, which, in July, I didn’t think he was a major league starter. Now, we’ll see, right? I mean, we’ll see. So, you know, you get a chance to see what you have. You still can make a move. You have prospects to make moves. So I think they’re, at this point, content to see how it plays out. I think now that said, we’ll plug the wnst tech service. Maybe they train for Dylan. Cease. A date or two days from this conversation, and if they do, we’ll reconvene and I’ll say, Hey, I was wrong. It won’t be the first time. But, you know, at this point, as we are getting deeper in the spring training and understanding, you know, going and looking at what happened with like Jordan Montgomery last spring, right? You don’t want to have someone that you’re necessarily acquiring late in the spring and trying to swim upstream. I mean that that generally doesn’t work out too well. But that said, if the right move becomes of it, you know, comes to fruition. And you know, San Diego’s asking price is less than maybe it was a month ago if they checked in on Dylan, cease at that point. You know, maybe you make a move, yeah, but, but I think, as this team stands right now, even with some of the concerns, as far as is the pitching good enough not to get to you to October, because I think it can think it’s good enough to get them there, whether that’s as a division winner, as the wild card, who knows. We’ll see. But yeah, once you get to October, you ideally, you want to have a couple horses, right? But that said, I’ll still go back to what’s your bullpen look like. I said that even last year with Corbin burns, because I I said most of these starting pitchers in the in October, they’re not going eight innings. They’re not going the distance. You’re still going to need five or six guys in your pen where you feel really, really good about them. And from that standpoint, even though I’m not saying that the bullpen is completely devoid of any questions, but I do think there’s more upside in the bullpen now than it was a year ago at this time and again. That begins with Felix Batista throwing bullpens right now on the backfields and and being someone who you expect to have for the duration of the season, which was not the case last year. And, you know, last year, at this time, we were talking ourselves into Craig Kimbrell being good enough. And you know, I think the data showed even going into that, you know, as you know, I was skeptical about just how good he was actually going to be. I didn’t think he was going to be as bad as he ended up being. But I do feel better about this bullpen now than I did a year ago at this time, and considering the questions with the rotation, it needs to be really good, right? I mean, it needs to be it’s it’s too important in this day and age when starters aren’t going more than maybe five or six innings at the most,
Nestor Aparicio 32:15
Luke Jones is here. He will be there when baseball convenes. Didn’t really get started. I’m wearing my orange shirt, you know, the purple Justin Tucker thing, and I guess Ronnie Stanley and combine and all that happening. We’re going to be playing baseball here this weekend. Not for real, for fake. Luke and I are abstaining from fake baseball in Hey, they play real baseball at the end of March, begin the season in Toronto. Opening day here, of course, a slated. Let me get all the dates right here, because we got it. We got to get the all the party started, and get the beer ice down for everything that’s going to happen the 31st of March. And that is no April Fool’s joke. The 31st of March is opening day a 305, against the Boston Red Sox, the new and improved Boston Red. Sox, correct? Luke,
Luke Jones 32:59
yeah. I mean, hey, you have to give Boston a lot of credit. I mean, they’ve made moves. They’re certainly better. I’m not already trying again, right? Yeah, well, I mean that, and that’s been the big thing. I mean, really, from the time that Mookie Betts was dealt, I mean, the thought is kind of like, where are you going as an organization, right? I mean that, and that’s been what that was, Mookie was dealt, was that four years ago, five years I mean, it’s, it’s been, it’s been a minute, right? He’s been a doctor, 200 million already. Yeah, yeah. So, so, you know, with, you know that Bregman, and obviously you know that they beefed up their pitching. Am I ready to pick them ahead of the Orioles? No, but they’ve certainly close the gap. And I think when you look at, if I’m looking at it objectively, how I’m sizing up the division on February 17, which is worth what i Not much, because we, we don’t know just how healthy all these teams are going to be six weeks from now. But, you know, I think you have to give the nod to the Yankees. At the moment. They’re the defending al champions as well, Division champions as well. But, you know, I think the Orioles right behind them, and I think Boston’s right behind, you know, has closed the gap the Orioles and Toronto, I don’t know. I mean, you know, they, they’ve been in such a weird spot the last couple years, right? And I get it, they signed Santander. So makes, you know, add some buzz to Orioles Blue Jays. But, you know, they’ve kind of been the team that their reputation the last couple winners has been, well, we’ve finished second, getting guys right. They tried to get Otani right a couple off seasons ago. So, you know, where are they? Where are they with Vlad Jr? Are they going to sign them? And then the rays. I mean, the rays are kind of, it feels like they’re in a down period. But this is also when it every time you feel like the rays are down, that’s when they end up winning 92 games and they’re in the place playoffs. So, you know, they’re for them, it’s about getting some of their healthy, you know, pitchers back. You know, healthy and, you know, we know what they went through in the. Second half of two years ago, when the Orioles were duking it out with them, you know, with their pitching injuries. So, you know, it’s the Al east, right? I mean, it’s, you know, we’re gonna see how it plays out. You know, the Orioles, the pitching is the big question. But I’ll take the Orioles position talent against anyone else in the division, you know, you know, the Yankees, I get it, you know, they they’ve added some some veteran names, some recognizable names, but these are guys on the other side of 30. Are they going to hold on? I mean, Giancarlo Stanton, I see, is already dealing with elbow issues. And I mean, the Yankees have a lot of guys that on the wrong side of 30 that they’re counting on. Now, in fairness, if I’m being objective here, the Orioles are counting on a 35 year old who’s never pitched in the majors, and a 41 year old in their rotation. So yeah, the Orioles are dealing with some of that too, but I still, I’ll still go back to the upside that they have with their position talent and understanding that, no, that doesn’t mean everyone’s going to be better than they were a year ago. But you know, if you kind of look at the trend of the last couple years, the jump that gunner made, you know, the the jump that West Bergen cows are made last year. You know, if you project that out for Jackson holiday to do that, you know, this year for maybe Heston kerstad To do that, albeit on a not 162 game every day basis, then, Boy, you’ve got, you’ve got a the makings of a heck of a line up there. So, you know, maybe they’ll, they’ll just hit their way to October. But yeah, then it still comes back to the question, what are you going to do? And that’s going to be the what Mike Elias needs to figure out between now and then, unless some really unexpected things happen on the pitching side, which, hey, who knows at this time a year ago, we weren’t talking about Albert Suarez, and look how important he ended up being. So you never quite know who could come out of nowhere to to kind of seize an opportunity.
Nestor Aparicio 36:52
First time I attended a Major League Baseball game in in the sky dome, I think it might have it was the first game I ever saw inside of a dome was in 1992 summer, 1992 and I went up to Toronto, and they had a song that they did up there called, okay, Blue Jays. You let’s go blue jays. You know the song I told you. Don’t know about this blue jay song. I don’t
Luke Jones 37:16
think I do alright. I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 37:19
free, all expenses paid trip internationally, to Toronto, if you can answer my trivia question. So here we go. So the song is, you got a diamond, you got nine men, you got a hat, a bat, and that’s not all. What do you want? Let’s play ball. Okay, Blue Jays. Let’s play. Really don’t know this one. You don’t know they’re not surprised. But so the second verse, is that a fly ball, or is it a seagull coming in from the lake just to catch the game? It’s the last inning. Our guys are winning, and here you go. Dave’s put down a smoker, a strike, and you’ve got no doubt you’re out. What do you want? Let’s play ball. Okay, but So Dave, who is the Dave that put down a smoker in let’s go blue jays. You need to Dave steep, you are correct, sir. Final Chapter. A
Luke Jones 38:18
heck of a career. You figured I’d know that one, at least I knew you knew that one, Steve, seven time All Star won an era title. You know, one 176 games, 3.4 career era, you know, really very much a hall a very good kind of pitcher that
Nestor Aparicio 38:33
was a seventh inning stretch. Thing that they did, they were kind of one of the original teams that had the guns that shot the T shirts out, and they had, like, cheerleader, kind of, very Canadian, kind of, you know, athletic young people that would come down and they lead this. Just go watch any of the videos from back in the 90s when they were, like, doing what they were doing. But it was, like a big song. It was, it’s their thank God, I’m a country boy. It’s really what it is. Oh and
Luke Jones 38:57
Orioles magic. I mean, so many of these teams have a song from
Nestor Aparicio 39:00
the late seven none better than Houston Oilers. I might, yeah. None better. Yeah.
Luke Jones 39:04
So, yeah, but, but yeah. I mean, the Blue, Blue Jays are just in such a weird spot right now. Just in general, you know, I don’t know
Nestor Aparicio 39:12
the Fly Eagle song. Can you sing it for me? No, I’m not gonna sing it. I just, I’ve heard it too much the last couple you know what it’s it’s
Luke Jones 39:19
so funny. You brought that up because I watched
Nestor Aparicio 39:22
you shouldn’t go to the Jersey Shore this year. Dude, don’t, don’t go to I’ll go to Wildwood. I But you know what that’s going to be all about. It’s something,
Luke Jones 39:30
oh, it always is. By then they’ll be all fired up about the Phillies. You know it is what it is. But no, it did. You know that the fly eagles, fly song was originally fight eagles. Fight I did not know that it was. And it’s funny because I I had watched this movie when it came out that that movie with Mark Wahlberg, when he played Vince papali and Vince came out, came out almost 20 years ago. I think it was like 2006 2000 the show a handful of times. I just happened to put that on, and I wasn’t watching it intently. I just put it on in the background, as I was working last week, you know, during the day, one afternoon. And they the one scene because, you know, the the whole premise of the movie is Dick Vermeil, like when he arrived in Philly, they had an open tryout, right? And they, they did, like a newscast thing in the scene in the movie, and they’re singing the fight song, and they were saying, fight Eagles fight. And I’m like, wait a second, did they screw this up? So that I Googled it, of course, being the nerd that I am, for wanting things to be correct, and I thought, Okay, was it a trademark thing? I don’t know. No, they actually way back when it was fight Eagles fight. And then I think in the 80s or something, when they brought it back. They changed it they I’ll
Nestor Aparicio 40:42
say this. I was a season ticket holder from 86 to 92 I saw people referencing rich, co tight last week. You know, I was at all those. I mean money. Ryan Randall, when Baldinger played on the team, Mike Quick, um, Keith Byers, just, you know, those were the teams i i went to Philly every week, 8687 8889 when they had home, I went to six of them. Jerome Brown, I never went to the Cowboys game because my friend, Russ, wife at the time like the Cowboys, she wanted to go to that game. And he had a buddy that liked the Giants, so he would take and I’m like, that’s fine. I like the Oilers. I wasn’t really an Eagles fan, but I went, Man, I have a ton of ticket stubs. I was there when Shula won the big game and got lifted up. I saw Joe Montana play and beat them, you know, beat the Eagles up there. So that era, they never played that song, dude. That song was not even a part of any I never heard that song in my life until, yeah, 10 years ago, whenever they sort of the modern era playing it back, yeah. I mean, I think that
Luke Jones 41:38
maybe they brought that back during, like, maybe the start of the Andy Reid era, I don’t know, but, like, but, yeah, it’s just funny. You brought that up because I literally was thinking about that last week as I put that movie again. I just put something on on a streaming service just to have something on in the background. And I heard them say, fight, eagles. Fight. I’m like, wait, what? And then I Sure enough, I didn’t even text my brother in law, because I, I almost feel like he’d laugh at me or something. But I looked at it and they said, Yeah, when they brought it back, whenever they brought it back the 90s, whenever they modernized it and changed it from fight, eagles fight to fly. Eagles fly. So
Nestor Aparicio 42:09
made it through this baseball segment to see me in orange, in black, here in my curio, uh, regalia. This literally, especially with the font on this shirt, is way more like the Baltimore clippers, who were orange and black, and this is shad Afro Nacho mamas. And they did their big sale on Saturday, and I went over to the the auction that they had over there, and they had a clippers bobble head. And I always see those bobble heads behind you. Got all those Mutant Ninja Turtles. And I, I don’t know if all my brothers, yeah, I don’t know if any of them are, like collectible worth $200 or $500 because there’s some couple of them. Yeah, well, there’s a clippers one that’s, you know, it’s like a $200 bobblehead. The one that scunny had was a little beaten up, and I’ve seen it online, but it’s the clipper bobblehead. It’s the only bobblehead in the world that I would probably want to own at this point, because it’s kind of cool. And up my alley, I got involved in an auction for a pennant with the old clipper guy with the beard, the orange beard, it looks like the Gordon fisherman. But the reason I even bring this up is the Clippers fight song was, fight, fight, fight. And I’m wondering, like in the modern era, could you do that at a hockey game, and then I saw what happened the first 10 seconds of the real hockey game? Yeah, freaking All Star game. So you know the whole thing about Fight, fight, fight, it’s like, why the bullets aren’t the bullets anymore? Bullets, bang, bang, guns, murders. We don’t want that. We need to move away from that brand that was susan o’malley 30 years ago to no longer have the bullets. It was Baltimore. Bullets was alliterative and like and the bullet had to do with trains and like all. So where the throwbacks, right? No. I mean, I don’t know where we are with Indians and Redskins and Orangemen and guardians and, like, all the names and commanders and all the things that we have to do in order to massage things, it would seem to me that in Philadelphia, where it was violent, it still is, fight, fight. Fight didn’t work in you know, the they had to fly, fly, fly, and eagles fly anyway. So somebody like you would say, like, why would they write it that way? And I’m thinking the Clippers fights, almost, fight, fight, fight, just like the Eagles, fight, fight, fight, right? I don’t know if you can even fight, fight, fight anymore. I don’t know if you’re allowed to do that. Yeah,
Luke Jones 44:12
that that’s where I will I’ll abstain from commenting too harshly, but that’s one of those where I’m just like, come on. It’s words in a song. We’re gonna assault them. We’re gonna go to war. We’re gonna understand what figurative language is. Can we understand not everything needs to be taken literally. Anyway,
Nestor Aparicio 44:33
I’m under assault. Someone called me a name again. You know, it’s amazing, like, since this guy became president again, and it’s baseball season. How many names I get called on the internet? By the way, somebody on Facebook wrote me, f you like out and shared it, and I complained to the community, and they wrote me back. Man, that’s okay. I’m like, okay, okay, that’s something we’re really we’re evolving as a society. Either way. Baseball season is coming. Either way. I’m evolving and eating more crab cakes. We’re gonna be down at Faith leaves on March 6, the day after my father’s birthday, which I’m looking forward to. Speaking of my father’s birthday, March 5 is my dad’s birthday. I know you just celebrated the life of your father last week as well. Luke, March 5 is John Miller. Not John Miller, not that John Miller, the author Wall Street Journal, just did a big book on Earl Weaver. He’s going to be speaking at Enoch Pratt with John Eisenberg, who also writes books and is our friend. We if I could do anything, I advise all of you to read books. Don’t do what the man did. And by the way, I told this story wrong to you. Luke in the other segment, we went to Costas for dinner Saturday night. We sat right at the bar, because we always sit at the bar. Karen’s there, Maggie, all the people we like John Corsi, everybody’s here. Sit down, people every every table that I sort of knew or knew me or yelled at me or whatever. Not the lady in the Make America Great hat in the corner, she didn’t know me, and it’s okay so, but we’re at the bar, and the man next to me doesn’t say a word to me, and Pete comes up talk. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, he and my wife were in a conversation, and they were like, way into the conversation about my career, and like, he knew who I was. He’d been sitting next to me half an hour, didn’t say a word. But I come back, and then we talk, and he said to me, I got your book. And I’m like, Oh, thanks. I said I it’s a shame I had, I had put four copies of Purple Rain one in my car to give to Jermaine and Jamal last weekend at the Super Bowl when I saw them, and I didn’t, like, bring them in, and it’s like, carrying them around, and it was cold as hell. And I’m like, I they’re in my car. I’m like, here he had Purple Rain one. And I’m like, Ah, man, that’s what I have in my car. If you didn’t have and I would give you a purple rain to say, oh, that’s alright. So we left. I don’t remember the man’s name. He was a I won’t give his name because I don’t want to insult him. But the next morning, my wife said, You know that guy last night that we sat next? Yeah, yeah. Guy had my book. The first thing he said to me is, he didn’t read it. And I’m like, Oh, he wanted me to autograph it, though, so I could just say so I I don’t know what to say to people who buy books and don’t read them, although,
Luke Jones 47:14
full disclosure, I absolutely own books that I have not read my book. Now, I read plenty of books, let me be clear, but I absolutely, absolutely own more books than I’d like to admit that I have not yet read. Now, let me say this. I intend to at some point, but I just doubted
Nestor Aparicio 47:30
myself in this segment, I just invited you on an international trip Toronto. It’s lovely in March. Come on in still hockey season. What’s gonna freak you out is I’m gonna take you out to a sports bar and you’re gonna see nothing but hockey. Nobody cares about anything but hockey there. It’s gonna blow you away. I don’t even know. Like that Thursday night after the game, the the Maple Leafs might I gotta, I gotta go online. And now that we’re going to Toronto, because you got s, can you spell Steve? I before E, but never right? It’s like believe Steve, right? You got to eat before the eye, right? It’s irregular, um. And, you know, in Toronto, if you have a color or ask for a favor, you have to add the you are. You know, they go British spelling up there. I expect all blogs to reflect that. So we’re going to go up to Toronto and be a part of this thing. I am. I’m excited about this. You got me, you got me all worked up for like, hockey season in Canada here. It’s going to be good.
Luke Jones 48:29
Well, it’s that. And keep in mind, the last time you were there, I mean, they’ve done a lot of renovations the Rogers Center the last few years, so it looks quite different. So, well,
Nestor Aparicio 48:38
I’m not getting this room in the hotel. I know what happens up there. I’ve seen that before. Luke Jones is here. We’re going to Toronto. I’m who wants to go with us, get a passport. Let’s all go to Toronto and have fun and freeze or whatever. But you and I are gonna have fun. And I should say this about books, this is where I’m gonna throw myself on the full and next time we get together, I’ll bring him in here. I had Rick Emmett on the show last year. And Rick Emmett, of course, the singer songwriter from triumph, lives in Toronto. He’s a professor, the whole thing, huge, crazy, big baseball fan. His brother passed away tragically, and requested his dying request was to scatter his ashes at shortstop at Memorial Stadium. I’m not like So Rick emmett’s book, lay it on the line. I mean, if you want to see a great segment, go watch my Rick. It’s two segments. It was a lot of baseball in there, a lot of baseball. He loved it, and he invited me to a game and we talked. So I’m going to make an entree to Rick Emmett. And then, of course, Rick Emmett has Getty Lee in his phone. Like, I know this to be factual, right? So Getty has a book coming out this year on baseball. You know this, right? He’s doing a big, big baseball Yeah, and you know his baseball collection at the Negro Hall of Fame in Kansas City, you and I’ve seen it out there, biggest collection in the world, biggest collection of autographed President baseball. In history as well. I think Daddy’s going to be at opening day, right? I mean, right, you would think, right. You would think so. He’s not on tour. I know that if I go to Toronto for three games, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Getty might be there. I might be a media member, maybe in that country, I don’t know. I’ll ask Mr. Rubenstein now that he’s got more time on his hands after the game. Hands after the Kennedy Center debacle and but Getty might be there. Rick Emmett might be there. And here’s the problem, dude, seriously, both of their books are on my bookcase and have read either one of them because I haven’t been on, like, a vacation, because I’ve been working, I haven’t even shaved, but like, I had both of their books, it would be very embarrassing if I went to a baseball game with them and didn’t read
Luke Jones 50:45
essay, and now I haven’t read your book.
Nestor Aparicio 50:47
Yeah, right. I’m exactly what the guy just did. I’m sorry. I hope you read my book. That’s why
Luke Jones 50:54
I was saying when you said that to me, I’m like, Oh man, I have way too many books on my bookshelf right now that I have not
Nestor Aparicio 50:59
yet. Here’s what I you know, as your boss, and you know, the the leader of WNC, if they win another Super Bowl, you’re gonna have to write purple ring three. So I’m gonna put you on the hook your risk and hurt from signing it. You can see how little money you’re actually gonna make and how little appreciation you’re gonna have. And then when Bucha runs into he’s gonna point out the typos to you instead of the great stuff in the book. So I’m telling you, if you want to be an author, like John Miller, the other with the H or John Eisenberg, because I know you got it in you. You’re a writer. I’ve seen your work that writing a book, you can feel appreciated, that you can send it out. People will buy it from you. Don’t think they’re going to read it, whatever you do, because they might not if they buy it, that’s money in your pocket. How much I love getting Lee, do you have any idea? You know how much I love it? No, I already, and I haven’t read the book because it’s a lot of Holocaust stuff, and it’s going to make me cry, like, literally, and I already know how awesome. But that book, to me, is a beach book. For me, all right, so I’m going across a body of water on a plane book like that’s what the Getty Lee book and the Rick Emmett books, but I have not read them. But if we go to the baseball game and I’m with Getty and Rick and they have a vision, I know, singing, okay, Blue Jays with them, I better read that. I better at least get the cliffs notes.
Luke Jones 52:16
I have a vision right now, because Getty’s always sitting behind home plate, right? And when you let your hair down at this point in time, it’s very Getty Lee esque. And I don’t say that as a knock or anything. It’s just an observation. I want you sitting right next to him, and it’ll be like reading his book, Getty. No. Getty’s sitting with this doppelganger, right?
Nestor Aparicio 52:36
Nobody’s called What’s it
Luke Jones 52:39
called? My
Nestor Aparicio 52:40
effing E, FF, I N G life, my effing life. So me and Getty just but I want to do it in his library. I want to see his collection. That’s really what I want to do. Like I want to go to see his stuff. If you’ve seen Dan, rather, has been in his room, if you’ve seen the interviews and stuff, I want to see Getty’s stuff, so I’m going to work really hard on this. Getty’s been unbelievably cool to me all through my life. I get he’s never said no to anything I’ve ever asked for. So I’m going to really put the full court press, and if I don’t find him or get there and all I get is a picture 15 feet away from him and wave and tell him how much I love him again for the 40th year in a row, for the 50th time, he’s probably sick of me. He ran into me in the buffet at the 93 All Star game. So I’m bound to find dead, you know what? I mean, like so Getty’s gonna be there. You’re gonna be there. I’m gonna be there. Anthony Santander is going to be there.
Luke Jones 53:42
The Maple Leafs will not be. They are in California. What if I took the book,
Nestor Aparicio 53:46
The Getty lead book, and actually read it and get he went to the game with me, and I sat next to him, next to the lady that looks like Phyllis marriage, the woman that’s always the gray haired lady that’s always behind on played it to get the games. And I change my effing life to my ethling life, and we do that on opening day. What do you think? Pretty good. Luke Jones, hang around. There’ll be comedy. I was very inspired by seeing Bill Murray sing again to do his Catskills thing this weekend. So all the Saturday life seeing Betty Murphy do Tracy Morgan next
Luke Jones 54:19
to trade that was epic. And the other thing I’ll give him credit for, and I’ve, I’ve kind of lost a lot of my taste for Adam Sandler’s work. I thought his song was really good. I think I haven’t seen especially he gave the nod to Farley and to norm McDonald I thought that that was cool. But Eddie Murphy doing Tracy Morgan with Tracy Morgan right next to him was absolute gold. Funniest thing I’ve seen in a while as someone who, I’m not gonna lie, it’s been 20 years since I’ve regularly watched SNL, yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 54:49
numbers. I’m like, Who is that? Do I recognize that my wife was like, that’s that’s the person. I’m like, I don’t know who she is. She’s funny, I guess, but I don’t know who it is. I just took it. For what it was. I tried to recognize every Scarlet Johansen, every sort of person behind things, um, you know, but it was great. So anyway, Luke’s here. We’re, this is what we do in February. Imagine if we did four hours today. We’ll have your phone calls next at 410-481-1570, tell us what you think of Justin Tucker, even though you didn’t read the story, we’re W, N, S T, Baltimore positive. Go read up on all of that, and I will do my homework. And if Getty welcomes me, I’m going to know everything there is to know about Getty, I promise by opening day do.
