He’s not a Number One starter but Tomoyuki Sugano has emerged as a solid rotation piece for the Orioles, who finally got a win on Monday night against the New York Yankees. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Japanese veteran missing the bats of the Bronx Bombers and pitching out of trouble early to give the Birds a chance to win. Ryan O’Hearn did the rest.
Luke Jones and Nestor discussed Sugano’s impressive performance in the Orioles’ win over the Yankees, highlighting his nine strikeouts and sharp pitches. Despite his three Cy Young awards in Japan, concerns were raised about his long-term sustainability in Major League Baseball due to his low strikeout rate. They also addressed the Orioles’ overall struggles, including a 10-17 record, poor offensive performance, and significant injuries to key players like Charlie Morton and Jordan Westburg. The conversation emphasized the need for the team to improve, particularly in offense and health, to stay competitive.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Orioles, Yankees, Sugano, bullpen, strikeouts, Cy Young, Japan, pitching, offense, injuries, Morton, Westburg, O’Hearn, Baltimore, crab cake tour.
SPEAKERS
8Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. We will be bringing the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road. It’s presented by the Maryland lottery. I have the Back to the Future scratch off. It’s been a lucky match. We will be at Cocos on Wednesday. Senator Cory McRae will be there as well as Jamie Costello resig is going to stop by and try to fix the Orioles pitching it all begins at one o’clock and crab melts, the infamous Burke’s late great crab melt will be back on the menu on Wednesday night, stop by watch the Orioles take on the Yankees. Luke Jones was at Oriole Park of cavid yards on Monday night. Orioles, good start, almost an unhappy finish, but Sagano pitches, oh, Hearn hits, Luke, you know, I’m not gonna bitch about a victory, a wins, a wins, a win. Yeah, there’s not. I
Luke Jones 01:03
mean, okay, the bullpen is what it is. And we were wondering about the bullpen, and I didn’t necessarily love the way Brandon Hyde managed the bullpen, but you just said it, it’s a win. And they got a good start. Sagano was really good when you consider, especially when you consider going up against that lineup. He missed bats, struck people out. I mean, the one thing you’d say about Sagano to this point is he doesn’t do that, which is why I think you know, you do struggle to to have a ton of confidence that he’ll continue to be this successful. But he struck people out, and the split was good. I think his pitches were sharper than we’ve even seen them be, which his commands been good at that. That was the reputation for him pitching in Japan all those years. So you saw a version of him that kind of, you know, kind of perplexed the the Yankees lineup, which is not easy to do. So can I
Nestor Aparicio 01:58
say something about him for a minute? Because, like, That guy’s won three Cy Young’s in Japan. And I know maybe if people listened, you have an image of Japan. Maybe you’ve seen something on HD TV, or I dragged you into a ramen joint that had Japanese stuff, or maybe you watched the legend of Bobby Valentine 15 years ago, to understand baseball in Japan. But I’ve been to Japan a couple of times. If you followed Adam Jones in his journey over and all of the COVID steak that he that he’s he’s wolfing down, you know, the Japanese thing and honor and culture and all that, even if you the only thing you know about Japan is having watched Mr. Baseball, and you got to have wa or you liked each your own, like I did. Everybody liked each row. But I mean, I’ve experienced it. I’ve spent time over there. I’ve never gone to a baseball game. It’s on my bucket list. I missed. I missed a game six of a World Series over there by a day when I went with Cal Ripken. So I missed going to, like the game seven of the World Series over there with Bobby Valentine by a day because they lost game six. So I’m, you know, I’m into Japanese baseball like that. I’m also Korean baseball when they’re playing at five in the morning during the plague. I had been to those stadiums. I’ve seen you two play over there. So like Asian baseball, and where it is, and whether it’s double A, triple A, even going back to satahara O and now that I’ve said it out loud that picture him and Hank Aaron’s family will show up from the Tokyo Dome on my timeline, because that’s why Facebook works. Like I saw that guy get on the hill, and he’s waited his whole life to pitch against the New York Yankees, right? So, you know, I kind of got it the other way that. Here’s a 35 year old, decorated guy. He knows everybody at home is watching. I thought he pitched the game of his life because he’s waited his whole life to pitch against the New York Yankees. So I just wanted to say that out loud, because I thought that I don’t tweet as much because of the the fascist that owns Twitter at this point. But like all of my thoughts during the game, that was the thought I had was, man, this is, this is a big deal for him. This isn’t just a big league star. It’s not just the season in 10 and 17. I felt like it was a little bit more for him. I really did. I
8Luke Jones 04:18
mean, it could have been. It was funny. He was asked about his success against Aaron judge. Or, you know, going up against Aaron Judge, I should say, I mean, judge had two hits off of him, but he joked that he did face him in spring training, and he walked to him, and he got booed for it, so he kind of said, I don’t want to walk him. And
Nestor Aparicio 04:36
we got in trouble. He got in trouble and got himself out. Yeah, yeah. I
Luke Jones 04:40
mean, he was really good, and was he a little more jazzed up than normal? Sure, I’ll buy that. I still think it’s notable that he had nine strikeouts over his first five starts combined, and he had eight against the Yankees. And I don’t think it’s just because he was pitching against the game. He’s, I think his stuff is, you know, he’s got six different pitches. I do think his stuff was a little crisper than it normally is. And you know, that stuff really allowed his split to play even more than it normally does, where he did get a little more swing and miss. I’ll continue to say this, and I say this with new no disrespect to anything that you just mentioned, meaning, clearly, this guy knows how to pitch, even if it’s even if it is Japan, and you say, Okay, it’s not the equivalent of Major League Baseball in terms of talent level across the board, which isn’t out of bounds of saying, but that doesn’t mean it’s not very legitimate high level professional baseball. But at the same time, if you’re not missing bats at all in the major leagues, it is difficult to sustain that long term. I do think it’ll be difficult to sustain that long term. That’s why I’m encouraged to see him have a start like that, where he can strike out eight people, and he can miss more bats, and he can have a profile of not just six pitches, but six pitches that can get some whiffs. I mean, there were 12 he ended up having, I think it was nine whiffs on 12, you know, 12 swings of his splitter that’s swinging Miss 75% of the time when someone’s taken a pass at a pitch, you know, trying to swing. So it was impressive. It was filthy. By
Nestor Aparicio 06:23
8the fifth inning, it was sweeper. Was good, yeah, yeah, no, but he had a 30 pitch first inning, and did he scuffled and, you know, it was sort of like, this dude, you and I crushed them for 54 minutes on Monday morning, right? Like, like, everything’s going wrong. And I said to my wife, I mean, we’re making dinner. And it can because it’s six, it’s 645, it’s dinner time. And I said, Man, double down the line. And this is just a bad thing, you know, and, but he battled. And I, you know, I like him, but I do think there’s an honor thing about a three time Cy Young Award winner over there coming over to measure himself here at the when his stuff isn’t the best, he’s 35 he had to been a better pitcher five years ago, I guess. I mean, I guess, right. I mean, that’s the way it usually works. And the fact that he’s been the healthy guy, and, you know, it’s O’Neill’s on the DL, Rodrigue, everybody, he’s pitching Suarez, my, my Venezuelan brother, you know, he’s pitching, and he’s pitching well, and he’s figuring it out. And he’s figured it out because he’s pitched 2000 innings, you know, somewhere else, and had to figure it out over there. I don’t know. I sort of like it. It’s, it’s much more interesting than watching Charlie Morton. Oh, no question
Luke Jones 07:35
about it. And again, when I, when I’m talking about the lack of strikeouts and the lack of missing bats, I’m just, I’m just going off of the statistical practicality of it. I mean, it’s, you’re lending yourself to needing way more batted ball lock, right? That they’re not blooping balls into the when
Nestor Aparicio 07:52
you’ve got a splitter falling 15 inches in the last 10 feet, and
Luke Jones 07:57
the sweeper, the sweeper was really good, too. I think, you know, the split was good. We’ve seen the split mostly be his best pitch. You know, he throws all of his pitches. He has six different pitches, so he mixes really well, even if it doesn’t result in a ton of swing and miss. But I think the sweeper played well. I think all of his pitches just played off of each other very well. But I’ll add something to what you just mentioned about pitching in Japan, you know, on or say you know everything about that you know. And also with facing the Yankees, he also made mention, and this really resonated with me, even if he’s speaking through an interpreter. But he made mention that this is the first time he’s pitched in the opener of a series for the Orioles, and he made mention of how important it is to win the first game of a series. When you’re trying to compartmentalize whether you’re 10 and 17 or 17 and 10, what do we always say? Win two out of three. Win a series, win a series, win a series. And then you look up at the standings and you’re doing pretty, pretty darn well. I mean, that was the formula for them a couple years ago, right, with never being swept and all that. But for him to mention that, and I don’t think he was like he mentioned, he went out of his way to mention that he wasn’t asked about pitching the opener of a three game set, that right there, says something again, and does speak to Okay, he’s technically a rookie in Major League Baseball, yeah, but he said, No, he’s pitched at a high level, you know, again, whether Japan, Japanese baseball, is it triple A, you know that that’s generally been the, you know, I’ve even seen some people opine that it might be a little bit, you know, a touch higher than triple A, but, but the point is, it’s not nothing, either it’s not low single, a ball, or anything like that. It’s still very high level professional baseball. And for him to do it as long as he did over there, which was, I think, I think 12 seasons with a career, er, a of 243, and a career walk rate, which is really what drew the Orioles to him a one point. Point seven walks per nine innings career raid in in Japan. And guess what it is in Major League Baseball, as much as we can talk about the strikeouts, even after Monday night, he’s walking 1.6 per nine innings in the Major League so that tells you he throws strikes. And Ryan O’Hearn said it, you know, because he was asked for for his perspective on what Sagan has been able to do as well that it just feels like he really works the corners and the edges of the strike zone impeccably well. It’s one thing to throw strikes right, and this is the difference between command and control. A poor control pitcher is walking a bunch of people. A poor command pitcher, yeah, there’s walks mixed in, but they also throw a lot of poor strikes. And what I mean by that is they’re catching the Heart of the Plate. And you see where the catcher lines up on the edge, the corner, up and in, wherever it might be, and the ball ends up catching way too much of the plate. That might be a strike in terms of, hey, you’re not walking people, but you’re gonna get these three run, home run, yeah, exactly. So he’s just, he’s very fine in that way. And look, he didn’t strike out a ton of people in Japan. I mean, even last year, 2024 when you had a 167, era in think it was 156 plus innings there. You know, he averaged 6.4 strikeouts per nine, which is, well, you know, that’s below average for Major League Baseball standards. But if he can miss bats when he needs to, if he can reach back for it and get some strikeouts when he needs to, and he’s not going to do it, he’s not going to have eight every time out, that was his season high, and might end up being his season high for the entire season, or career high. When
8Nestor Aparicio 11:42
you slide people out, you throw more pitches too. And do I think the games play differently in Japan in regard to put the ball in play? Maybe be more of a seven or eight inning pitcher, you know? And here it’s, Hey dude, you know, don’t, don’t let Aaron judge on, and don’t let him have contact, because if he has contact, he’ll crush you. So pitching away from contact is something that maybe he’s adjusting to a little bit more. I don’t know. I’m giving him more rope for all the reasons you’re giving me. He has command. He throws the ball well. He’s a thinker. He’s a grown up. He has pride. He has bite, and something that you, you know, you rolled over them. Pretty good. I’m surprised they let you in Monday, they let you to press box. Gave you hot dogs. I mean, you rolled over and pretty good about, like, where’s your fight? You know, I think he went out and he got in trouble in the first inning, and he fought, and they won barely. And then we can get to the bullpen, and you could beat up the hitters again. And, you know, heard, hit a home run, hit and piss drop after, you know. So we can go through all of that, but they won, so let’s give them that, because the other piece is going to play on Tuesday too. We’re 54 minutes of you and I talking about fundamental problems that they have, that they still have, even though they won four to three on Monday night.
Luke Jones 12:56
Yeah, let me be clear. I’m not being negative about Sagano. I’m giving you statistical information. I’m giving you what we know, telling
Nestor Aparicio 13:02
me why he’s of number four and not a number one or two. And I’ll hear that
Luke Jones 13:08
8not in terms of what we saw on Monday night, in terms of the general profile, in terms of what it takes to be successful in Major League Baseball in 2025 let me be clear. I’m not saying he needs to strike out eight in five innings every time he goes out there. To your point, you’d gladly take him going seven innings the way that we’ve also seen him been able to do that. My My point is, when you kind of look at what his statistical profile has had been through five starts, I think he was in the first or second percentile for strikeout rate and whiff rate, it is very difficult to succeed long term and consistently if you can’t miss a few more bats when you need
Nestor Aparicio 13:50
to. And that’s what I’ve said. And I think he might be pitching that way well, and we’ll see. And again, look and that may make him a five inning, 100 pitch pitcher that pitches in and out of trouble, and sometimes he’ll make a mistake, but dude, the New York Yankees choose the bags up, and he had to pitch himself out of trouble. And he figured it out, right? Well, he got a soft ground ball when he needed one.
Luke Jones 14:11
And but, but that’s also, but he got strikeouts also, you know? I mean, look at the look at the third inning where there were two on with one out, and he struck out Goldschmidt and Chisholm. So go I again. I’m not pointing this out to say that I don’t like Sagano. It’s just, you know, it’s what it was through the first five starts, and the fact that he nearly doubled his strikeout total for the year, to me, you take some optimism in that that, hey, that’s in there. Also throw out the Yankees as much as they score runs, they are prone to striking out. So, so there’s that as well, but he’s man for all their problems, for for as big of duds as not just Charlie Morton, but now Gary Sanchez is on the IL and Tyler O’Neill’s even though Tyler O’Neill being a. The il everyone should have expected at least a couple stints, regardless of how he was going to perform, because that’s just who he’s been. But you look at the players they’ve signed and acquired in the off season. I mean, the other guys haven’t just been bad, they’ve been disasters. I mean, we’ve talked about Morton Gary Sanchez hasn’t hit at all. They’re paying Gary Sanchez eight and a half million dollars to be a backup catcher who hasn’t hit at all so and now branded. Maybe the wrist has been a reason why, and he’s on the IL and we’ll see West Berg out now too, right? Well, we’ll get to him, but I was just talking specifically about the guys that they added in the off season. Sagano has been a home run compared to those guys, so it’s been great to see he it. It wasn’t an ace, in the sense of comparing him to Corbin burns, or that he went seven innings, but when you looked at how miserable, and this goes back to what you were just saying, how hard I was on them after the Detroit series, because as much as I didn’t watch every pitch because I was busy with draft coverage, but every time I looked up, it was miserable, absolutely miserable. And I almost said this kid, because technically, he’s a rookie, but he’s not. He’s 35 he’s a grown up, albeit pitching in a brand new environment. He went out and gave them a very mature outing on Monday night that they absolutely needed. And you know what you probably do need to miss a few more bats if you’re going up against the Yankees. So it was good to see him just be able to do that right, just to know that that’s there. You know, in addition to what he had done in his two previous starts, which was going seven innings, even though he didn’t strike out people then not saying strikeouts are everything, I’m saying you want to have that as part of your repertoire. When you need it, right? There’s a point to that. Jim Palmer would even say, you know, he didn’t strike out. You know, that wasn’t an era where you’re striking out about or parenting, but when he needed to reach back and give a little extra with that high fastball that that Palmer, you know, part of his repertoire that made him a Hall of Fame pitcher. He was able to do that. So that’s the point I’m making about the strikeouts, not that he needs to, you know, suddenly be averaging a strikeout parenting. Because, no, he’s not going to be that guy. But again, when you’re going up the up against the Yankees, you know, you’re going to need that a little bit because, you know, in case we haven’t noticed, pretty good, pretty good lineup you’re facing there. So for him to shut them out even over five and you had the pitch count got up there a little bit, you know, still really, really impressive.
Nestor Aparicio 17:26
I’ll shut the door on this by just saying that. I’m smiling and laughing a little bit if you’re watching on the on the webcam, because I’m thinking, like, if you had to pitch him in the playoffs, you’d be okay. And I’m thinking to myself, they’re so far from the playoffs, and I’m thinking, we’ve done this for 35 years here. We haven’t talked about playoff starts and playoff pitchers and all that. And when the team’s 11 and 17, you worry about every single facet of this. And you and I did soup to nuts on Monday, just to recap Monday’s game in a general sense, the bullpen, how it’s managed, the fact that they didn’t hit the ball again after the second inning or third inning. You know there, there’s a real problem here. Sure that one win, and look stack them up, they got the Yankees next couple days, if they could beat the Yankees again a game or two here and pick up something that feels like momentum, but I want something that feels like an offense and feels like something that’s clicking against right handers and left handers. And to your point, I’m about to, it’s about to be May, guy sitting 208, guy sitting below Mendoza. It’s, it’s unacceptable, no question.
8Luke Jones 18:37
And now you know that’s, that’s where we get into Jordan westbergs on the Il. He had, finally, over the last week to 10 days, started to swing the bat better. After, let’s face it, other than the opening Toronto series, hadn’t really done much of anything. So that hurts. You know, Gary Sanchez is on the IL, but he’s done nothing offensively. So that’s, you know, kind of irrelevant to what what we’ve seen, not irrelevant to expectations, of course. But yeah, I mean, this is why I’ve been much harder on the offense. Because part of my whole point, Sagano being the exception, has been we kind of feared, not that Charlie Morton would have a 10 and a half era. Because I think even, even if you thought he might be washed, I thought that would look like a six era, right? I thought that looked like six and a half, you know, maybe seven, not this, oh my gosh. It’s so incredibly horrible that how is
Nestor Aparicio 19:35
not pretty, you know, it my lifetime, yeah, but when it falls off the shelf, it does. It can, but it’s not always all these guys that walk away before it gets like this, I know, but this is not a fun way to walk away, even if you’re getting 50. Maybe it is fun if you get 50. There
Luke Jones 19:52
were no projection systems that were predicting him to have a 10 era. And as I pointed out to you, the last time we talked about. Charlie Morton. Go look at his September with the Braves. I’m not saying it was great, but it was better than it was in June, in July and August. So, you know, I don’t want to waste too much time talking about Charlie Morton, because, I mean, you know, Kyle Gibson’s going to make his debut tonight. We’ll see how he looks. You know, after a few starts down at AAA Norfolk. But point is, with all of this, if a month ago when we were watching the Orioles in Toronto, and you had told me they were 11 and 17, I would say, Okay, well, the rotation is really bad, but if you had told me that the offense would be what it is, I’d say that’s completely unacceptable. You know, Charlie Morton’s 41 right? The Orioles kind of get what they deserve, right, running the risk that he could be washed up. You know, Dean Kramer has historically been a slow starter. This is a little more extreme. Kate povidge is what he is, right? I mean, and then Evelyn’s hurt, Grayson, Rodriguez is hurt.
Nestor Aparicio 21:03
8Suarez hurt, the right? I mean, the Rotate, rich hurt,
Luke Jones 21:06
you know, Chase McDermott, Trevor Rogers, guys that, that? Perez, no good, yeah, well, I’m trying to stick to the rotation. Yeah, yeah, I got this all. But you look at this offense and again, this is why I said, as I get it, the starting rotation is awful, but you can’t, as an entire collective unit, as a collective club, just allow that black hole to just suck everything else up too, and you just say, well, woe is me, whatever, right? We’re not going to win anyway. Meanwhile, they’ve lost plenty of games where the pitching actually wasn’t that bad of a disaster where they had a chance to win. I mean, on Monday night with o’hearns three run homer, it’s the first time they’ve scored more than three runs since the Saturday of the Cincinnati series. They went over a week before scoring more than three runs in a game. I mean, you’re not doing anything with an offense like that, so it’s challenging because you were already missing cows or now westburg is out with the hamstring. It doesn’t sound like they think it’s going to be an extended, prolonged absence, but it’s a hamstring you never know, right? I mean, you want to make sure that he doesn’t, you know, pop it again when, when he’s running for the first time here, when he tries to jog or run in the in the coming days? Well, nothing derails
Nestor Aparicio 22:21
a young career like an injury. Rushman last summer being a great example of that, right? And even
Luke Jones 22:27
westburg. I mean, look at it, he had an all star season last year, and the second half was ruined by a fastball in the hand. You know, I feel for him, because I think we saw the first half of last year what kind of player he can be. And because of injuries, he just hasn’t been able to be that guy since then, mainly, you know, not been able to be on the field so and even this month. I mean, before the hamstring, he was dealing with stuff going back to spring training, they remember they gave him the day off the the finale in Toronto, after he hit two home runs on that in that Saturday game, speaks to how banged up he’s been so maybe this can be a blessing in disguise, that you shut them down for two weeks, three weeks, get them back, and maybe you get the the Jordan westburg that you saw in the first half of last season. Because, yeah, O’Hearn aside, well, you know, his three run homer aside, which, by the way, as much as we’ve been given love to Cedric Mullins, go look at Brian o’hearns numbers. He’s having a good year. You know, we could, we could talk about rutchman and gunner Henderson and Jackson holiday and Heston kerstad And Ryan mount Castle, who’s been woeful at the plate, you know, without not hitting for any power whatsoever, Ryan O’Hearn continues to be a great story now, three year going on, three seasons now for the Orioles So,
8Nestor Aparicio 23:40
but he was a pedigree guy, right? But he
Luke Jones 23:43
never figured, he never figured it out in Kansas City, I mean, and it’s not as though they gave up on him after a year. I mean, this is a guy that’s, yeah, he’s not a young man Well,
Nestor Aparicio 23:53
and this would be where they are with every name you gave me, cows or Henderson aside, because, I mean, we all think he’s special, but holiday cows are westburg rushman, all these guys that have had a turn on and a turn off, and I know I talked about weeders the other day, and what Mark cake is wound up being, and what name any Adam Lowen name, any first round pick he wound up being an outfielder, I would just say it’s hard to do, and for that whole generation of Jeffrey Hammonds and Mark Smith and all those first round draft picks that never made it, or barely made it, or hung around for a minute or two, or whatever, this whole thing of old guys like me and you and everyone else that’s watched baseball. If your dad was alive, my dad was alive, they’d be listening to lock and four down on the fan him yelling about six number one picks, and how awful you’d have to be, and how they’re all not going to the Hall of Fame, and they’re all not going to be Mickey Mantle. And a couple of them are going to be BJ sur off, a couple of them are going to be Matt weed. A couple of them are going to flame out. Maybe one of them goes to the Hall of Fame, if you get lucky, right? I That’s where they are. And all of this is to say Ryan o’hearns, that guy that has panned out for them. And this notion that all of these guys here are going to pan out here, the jury’s out. And I think we all want to believe in the better angels of Colton cows is going to be an all star, and West Berg’s going to be an all star, and holiday is going to be Hall of Famer, and Henderson’s going to be a Hall of Famer. Ruchman got to be a Hall of Famer because he’s a one one, right? Well, here we are. Here we are, and then they got to stay healthy as much as anything, and get on the show. Well,
Luke Jones 25:38
8it’s funny because you just mentioned Jeffrey Hammons. I mean, I think about him, and he’s a really talented player. He can never stay healthy. I mean, that was kind of the story of his career. I mean, he ended up having a fairly long career relative to how much injury is decimated. I saw
Nestor Aparicio 25:55
him in an all star game later in his life, he was a rocky or somewhere else, but he’s,
Luke Jones 26:01
I’m trying to think what year that was.
Nestor Aparicio 26:03
I mean, it was into him, because I knew Jeff. Well, he’s a good, good man, Jersey guy, really good fellow and five Tool Guy. And it was totally, yeah, it
8Luke Jones 26:12
was the year 2000 so it was a, it was a couple years after the Orioles adult him to what, Cincinnati, I guess, what they traded him for Willie green. Wasn’t
Nestor Aparicio 26:19
it wasn’t that. I have no idea. Yeah, he didn’t turn into Eric Davis, so, you know, but there’s
Luke Jones 26:25
a perfect example, and you’re right. I mean, health is a big part of this. I mean, you mentioned Jordan westburg. Jordan westburg has been an all star, and then since then, he’s had the Broken Hand, and it’s been, was banged up in spring training, and is banged up now and on the aisle, and that’s, you know, it’s not to say that that’s going to be who he is for the rest of his career. But, yeah, health is a big part of it, and, and this is where we go, kind of come back full circle talking about this team in general. Look, even me, i and i am down on them. I’m down on them across the board right now. And that doesn’t mean that I’m saying that all these picks are bust, or that Mike Elias is an idiot, or that Brandon Hyde doesn’t know what he’s doing. But my point is they’re all accountable for whatever this is right now, which has been terrible baseball to start the year. But
Nestor Aparicio 27:14
8Oh, her name, Mullins and Sagano and maybe Baker, right? Like, literally, those are the guy, Felix
Luke Jones 27:20
batistas. Yeah, Batista had a, you know, look at, look at his ninth inning. I mean, that was in a one run game that was encouraging to see. But overall, yeah, there are far fewer guys that you was would say are fine or doing their job than than the ones who, you know, who aren’t right now. But we also can’t lose the plot. And as much as, yes, I will continue to take their their offense to task, because that’s supposed to be their strength, you still look at this pragmatically, realistically and say, look at their injured list right now, and look at their starting pitching. And more specifically, more specifically than the starting pitching, look at Charlie Morton. Specifically, Charlie, they’ve lost every time he’s pitched. If you replace him with just someone that was average. And let’s and you won half of those. So let’s say, instead of being oh and six, you were three and three, what would their record be right now? 513 and 14. Now I’m not saying that’s anything to throw a parade over. But I think we also would have, would have acknowledged a month ago that if effluent went on the aisle after three starts and you still
Nestor Aparicio 28:28
didn’t have to make a case, that this could have been a 700 team, right? No, no,
Luke Jones 28:32
it’s not that. My point is Charlie Morton specifically, and here I am. I said five minutes ago. I don’t want to make this all about Charlie Morton, but when you just look at a very specific case, and that’s what you can kind of do, when you’re talking about still a small sample size of games, you know, 28 games into the season. But if you take him away and replace him with just a league average starter, this team’s closer to 500 just, just with that, even with all their other problems. So when you look at it through that lens. It is still early. It is there is a path for them to get back in it. I’m not saying that it’s even the most likely path right now, because it’s not based on the fact that, other than Gibson and I will mention Zach Eflin, is going to throw a bullpen, you know, to you know today, so that’s good to see. So that tells you he’s getting closer, not imminent, but closer. But you know they’re going to have these warts. I mean, they just are. I said to you, like three weeks ago, when f, when f1 went on the i l to me at that point, it’s like the best you can realistically ask for right now is probably for them to tread water and to kind of just hover around 500 and they haven’t been able to do that. Let’s be clear, if they can at least do that. And take two out of three from the Yankees. Take two out of three this weekend. Get yourself to a point where you’re not seven under 500 get back to three or four games under 500 over the next week. And then, you know. Kind of piece it together that way, one game at a time. You know, to borrow the cliche, yeah, that’s how you stay in this race. And then then you start getting some pictures back. You hope, you really hope you don’t have any more injuries, because, again, next man UPS a t shirt after a while. You know, it doesn’t, it just doesn’t apply after a while, because not everyone is going to have that kind of depth. I mean, you’re just not, but, you know, that’s how they have to approach it. You can’t fix 10 and 17 or 11 and 17 in one night. And I think part of the problem for this team, and it might speak to the leadership and the lack of adults, you know, grown ups, and the room guys who’ve been through it is, I think you have guys going up to the plate and going out there trying to do that, and you can’t do it that way. It’s the old Mike Flanagan. I think it was Mike Flanagan who said it right, try easy. Or maybe Ray Miller told him that at some point in time, try easier. But because you’re not going to make this, you’re not going to fix all this in one at that or one inning. So you can’t have that approach that you’re going to go out there and try to do too much well,
8Nestor Aparicio 31:03
a game of inches, and you were Yogi burying me on Monday. You know the the one hit right? One? You won one hit. It needed it rerun home run, and won the game for them. In the end, Luke Jones be back at Orio park at Camden Yards on Tuesday and Wednesday and Friday, and probably not Saturday, but probably on Sunday. All week long. The Royals will be in this weekend. The Yankees are in this week. We will be at Coco’s pub on Wednesday afternoon doing what we call the Maryland crab cake tour. It is presented by friends at the Maryland lottery. I will have the Back to the Future $10,000 chance. One day, I want to give one of these away and have somebody win like, like a jackpot. I’ve seen people win 100 bucks, and they do want to hug me when that happens. They also want me to cash it out, and I’m not responsible for that. I just give them out. I can also provide the MD lottery app, where you should be scanning and second chancing all these things. I tell people about that, but I’m going to second chance of crab cake and a crab melt. They tell me they’re going to change burger night to crab melt night on Wednesday night. So one of my favorite things in life was the Burke’s crab melt and the Coco’s crab meat with the extra sharp cheddar cheese on the bay’s English muffin. I think it’s going to be a very, very good night on Wednesday night, no matter who pitches or how they pitch for the Orioles. Luke’s at the ballpark. He’s Baltimore. Luke. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. You.
